Creating deepfake photos of young girls invites punishment for 15 schoolchildren in Spain

Artificial Intelligence is getting scarier by the day, with children having access to it and being vulnerable to falling victim. Misusing the technology, 15 school kids in Spain created AI-generated nude images of their peers. These pictures were later circulated on WhatsApp, after which the parents of these girls approached the police.

The incident happened in the Extremaduran town of Almendralejo where the 15 schoolchildren have now been sentenced to a year’s probation. The matter once again raked up debate on the misuse of the technology and how deepfake can devastate the future world. Following the investigation, police identified the accused as being 13 to 15 year olds, who created and shared the images.

On Tuesday, a youth court in the city of Badajoz said the minors had been convicted of 20 counts of creating child abuse images and 20 counts of offences against their victims’ moral integrity. Besides a year’s probation, the children have been ordered to attend classes on gender and equality awareness, and on the “responsible use of technology”.

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“The sentence notes that it has been proved that the minors used artificial intelligence applications to obtain manipulated images of [other minors] by taking girls’ original faces from their social media profiles and superimposing those images on the bodies of naked female bodies,” the court said in a statement. “The manipulated photos were then shared on two WhatsApp groups.”

Spanish law states that minors under 14 cannot be charged and their cases are sent to child protection services. Such kids most often also take part in rehabilitation courses.

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Fear of victim shaming

When the matter came to light, a mother of one of the victims told Reuters, “Many girls were completely terrified and had tremendous anxiety attacks because they were suffering this in silence. They felt bad and were afraid to tell and be blamed for it.”

Another mother, talking to The Guardian, said, "The image is completely realistic … If I didn’t know my daughter’s body, I would have thought that image was real."

The Malvaluna Association, which took action on behalf of the affected families, says the matter raises the need for proper sex education at schools as learning about sex through pornography “generates more sexism and violence”. It added that the case will have widespread implications.

(With inputs from agencies)