Photo: Marion County Jail booking photo: 39-year-old Lucius Martin
A felony arrest has been made in connection with a new cyber law that went into effect in Florida today.
A Marion County man is accused of using AI to generate child porn from social media photos of children.
In a first-of-its-kind arrest in Marion County, 39-year-old Lucius Martin is charged with four counts of creating child pornography, possessing child pornography, and destroying evidence in a felony.
The new Florida law makes it a third-degree felony to generate an altered sexual image without the "person’s" consent.
But South Florida cyber expert Alan Crowetz says what if there's no person, no victim? He says bad actors can get around the law by using AI to generate the children too.
However, in order to create a fake child, Crowetz says that AI does pull from hundreds of images of real people already on the internet.
Crowetz says technology is way ahead of the law and it will be difficult to catch up. He adds that AI can filter out illegal activity, like how to make a bomb, but crafty criminals find a way to trick it.
In addition to the charges in Marion County, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an allegation of sexual molestation against Martin.
Martin is currently being held in the Marion County Jail on a $62,000 bond.