WEBVTT - Warp Speed 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:04.360 A quick note. This is episode six of a six 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:08.560 part series. If you haven't heard the prior episodes, we 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:12.800 recommend going back and starting there. It should also be 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:19.160 noted that this series explores sexualized imagery involving miners and violence. 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:33.519 Please take here when listening Leavitt Town, the place was 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:38.839 itself and innovation. William J. Levitt of Levitt and Sons, 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:44.239 inspired by the production assembly line, broke down mass produced 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:49.920 housing into just twenty six steps, with construction workers building 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:55.120 a house in just one day, quick cost saving production 0:00:55.440 --> 0:01:01.360 of identical track housing in mere months. In nineteen forty seven, 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:07.800 thousands of houses were built and white families only were 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:14.720 moving in restricting by racial covenant. The innovation for some, 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:22.200 but it was a kind of progress. And yet today 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:27.000 the place that was once the pinnacle of innovation is 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:31.360 like everywhere else now, struggling to keep up with the 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:35.880 incredible force of technological change. 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:38.880 When I first got here, we were working off of 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:39.759 VCR teaps. 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:44.120 Lieutenant Detective Devon Ross has been at the Nassau County 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:46.679 Police Department since the late nineties. 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:51.440 Teap fed camp quarters in eight milimeter cassette taps for audio, 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:54.920 and now we're in a world that's the people who 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:58.560 worked with me back then wouldn't even recognize today today. 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:03.800 Ross is the of the Cyber Crimes Unit, investigating crimes 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:08.880 like cyber extortion, online fraud, and deep fakes. 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:14.800 They call it an arms race between law enforcement, slash 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:19.600 legislation and technology, and it's just where we're losing. We 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:23.000 are absolutely losing the things that we're trying to think 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:26.200 about solving that happened six weeks ago. They are already 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:29.600 ten months ahead of us, and it's a shame. 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:37.400 The Petrick Carry case is sort of a perfect example. 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:43.120 In twenty nineteen, he was essentially using glorified Photoshop to 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:47.680 make the images. Basically, he was creating a digital collage 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:51.520 a face here, pasted on a body there, with some 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:56.520 rudimentary AI to help blend the pieces and presto a 0:02:56.560 --> 0:03:01.639 whole new picture. But now would be Patrick Carries. Can 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:05.360 use an app or a website and a few swipes 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:12.399 a few seconds later, boom, something new that looks real. 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:18.560 So I've opened up my laptop and I've got a 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:23.799 few windows open of several of the neudifying apps which 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:26.480 were on so Olivia and I decided to try it 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:30.200 for ourselves. This tech that in many ways brought us 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:35.840 to the story. So Drawn Nudes is the app we're 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:36.520 going to go visit. 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:37.560 I'd love to see. 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:40.920 We were doing some reporting in California together and we 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:43.360 decided to do a test run of some of the 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:48.000 latest tools using artificial intelligence to modify pictures which make 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:52.320 it so people who were dressed now appear naked. They're 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:57.360 called undressing or nudifi websites and apps. For our experiment, 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:01.240 we used one of the most popular websites, Draw Nudes, 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:04.360 that had more than twelve million visits in the first 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:07.680 half of twenty twenty four. These sites let you get 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:10.760 started quickly. You don't need to enter an email or 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:13.080 a name to use them, and you can make your 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:16.360 first few fakes for free. So it's saying, have someone 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:20.719 to undress upload a photo. So I'm going to upload 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:25.120 a photo from my. 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:27.240 Library. 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:29.479 So this is a photo of me. I am in 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.719 a desert in Nevada. Oh, it looks so cool and 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:36.920 I have been sort of going for a jog. 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.240 Okay, in this photo, I can see Margie. She looks 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:43.400 really happy. She's got her arms stretched out, she's standing. 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:47.200 It looks like you're wearing running shoes, maybe some a 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:51.520 casual pair of shorts, a sports boru and a bucket 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.840 hit in Sunny's and you're in the middle of the desert. 0:04:55.720 --> 0:05:00.520 So done, I'm going to pick auto so ai paint 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:06.880 clothes on its own, Okay, so you just paint over 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:12.559 where your clothes are. So it's basically on my phone. 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:14.640 I'm just basically tapping on my sports bar and my 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:23.919 shorts and then it's highlighted in orange. Say's processing photos. 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:29.839 Almost of the place. Do I enclose the page? Oh 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:38.119 my god, Oh, oh my god, it looks so real. 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:45.480 Yeah, I look completely naked. I kind of couldn't believe it. 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:49.120 In a matter of seconds. This website did what it 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:53.440 likely took Patrick Carey and others hours to accomplish. 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:58.239 And it's proportionally careached to your body. Oh my god. 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:05.960 Welcome to the future where you really can't believe your eyes. 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:12.280 From iHeart Podcasts, Bloomberg and Kaleidoscope, this is Levettown. I'm 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:22.000 Margie Murphy and I'm Onlivia Carve. Nothing can quite prepare 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:26.520 you for this. One moment, a smiling vacation picture, the 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:31.159 next you're naked. It's not really your body and it's 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:35.719 no longer your photo. It's completely surreal to see it happen, 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:39.240 and a little weird to share it with a coworker. 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:41.960 I found it hard to look Olivia in the eye 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:45.280 for a moment afterward. I can't imagine what it would 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:47.719 be like to have your classmates looking at something that 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:53.440 feels so intimate. However, I created that particular image, I 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:55.760 might not have known exactly what I would look like 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:59.400 once the tech undressed me, but I knew basically what 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:04.680 was coming. That's not often the case. Most people who 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:08.800 make deep fake pornography haven't asked their subjects whether they're 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:12.520 okay with it. They just do it. It's pretty much 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:16.520 the reason these apps exist. So when a person learns 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.520 that their image has been altered this way for someone 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:24.400 else's pleasure, it can feel like a violation. For many 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:27.640 of the women we spoke to, it was a violation, 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:32.800 a new kind of violence. As a society, we haven't 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:37.320 even begun to grapple with this. Currently, it isn't a 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.120 crime under federal law to create and share deep fake 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.760 pornography based on adults. When it comes to fake neods 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:46.760 of children, the law is a narrow and pertains only 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.120 to cases where children are being abused. In March of 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:53.720 twenty twenty four, the FBI did issue a public announcement 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:57.680 saying child sexual abuse material, even if created by AI, 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:02.440 is illegal, but again, the law they are referring to 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:07.040 is quite narrow. So far, at least twenty five states 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:09.880 have tried to address this with their own laws and regulations, 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.400 but it should be noted that federal law protects the 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:17.400 hosting websites, whether it's a forum, social media platform, or 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:21.760 internet provider, from being held liable for any content, even 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:24.240 if it's illegal, posted to their sites. 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:31.240 Meanwhile, EPP developers are racing to mat a growing demand 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:36.320 to make better nodes faster, and many of the people 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:40.200 who are using this tech aren't adults. The a teens 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:44.559 wielding this technology against other teens. 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.560 Deep fake porn crushing high school girls in Westfield, New Jersey. 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:52.080 Two students are some serious trouble after being accused of 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.760 using AI to create inappropriate images. 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:56.000 Beverly Hills Middle. 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:59.080 School students are in trouble for using AI to create 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:03.040 and share the fake nude images of their classmates. 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:07.240 Parents are at a loss and so are school officials. 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.600 In so many places, there are no guard rails to 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:13.880 make sure what happened in their school in the town 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:19.280 doesn't happen again. Since I started reporting on Leavettown in 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:23.120 twenty twenty three, I've followed as cases like these have 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:29.280 mushroomed across the country, but one in particular stood out. 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:32.360 I didn't actually realize that it was such a big 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:33.880 thing across the country. 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:34.160 I think. 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:37.679 Detective Laurel Beer is one of two investigators in a 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:42.240 small police department in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:45.240 That's probably what surprised me the most was that there's 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:48.320 been so many cases that haven't ever gone to prosecution 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.679 simply because they didn't know how to, they didn't know 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:53.880 how to use the laws to their advantage, or they 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:57.439 didn't have a law that they could use to press 0:09:57.480 --> 0:09:58.800 charges for something like this. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:04.360 Ancaster is a place synonymous with farmland and the Amish, 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:07.319 where it's pretty normal to see a horse and buggy 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:08.720 clumping down the street. 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.000 Because we only have two of us, we pretty much 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:14.400 do every kind of investigation that comes into our office, 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:18.760 from your property crimes like burglary or trespassing, all the 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:22.200 way up to homicide that we would have it, but 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:25.960 pornography cases, child pornography cases, stuff like that. 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:28.319 That's something that we handle between the two of us. 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:29.640 We handle several a year. 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.920 In early twenty twenty four, Laurel got a call from 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:40.439 a patrol officer. Parents whose children attended a nearby private 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:45.360 school reported that one of the students had accidentally shared 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:49.920 a photograph and a group text messaging thread. That photo 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:53.920 was pulled from the social media account of a female classmate, 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:58.720 but she had been undressed with technology. It was a 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:03.160 deep fake. The officer didn't know whether they could arrest 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:07.120 the student, but Laurel had worked a similar case the 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:12.880 year before. She knew that in Pennsylvania, any quote depiction 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:16.600 of a child in a sexual manner, created by AI 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:21.320 or not can lead to a child abuse charge. 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:23.960 It really helped move things along, I think, at a 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:26.319 much faster piece because we knew where to go. 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.920 The pictures in this case weren't being traded on a 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:33.760 tributing website like they were in Leavittown. This time, they 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:37.520 were being shared between two classmates over a messaging platform 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:41.120 called discord, until one of them messed up and sent 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:44.480 a deep fake to a larger group threat. But because 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:48.160 the rest of the pictures were being privately exchanged. No 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:53.120 one knew exactly who'd been deep faked, so students and 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:56.960 families were panicking, and the detective wanted to provide answers. 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:02.199 Like the police and prosecut is in Levittown, Laurel got 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:06.080 a search warrant for online records and chat histories. It 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:12.000 was a painstaking process to identify each victim. Laurel created spreadsheets, 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:16.079 collected and cross checked the pictures against yearbook, interviewed witnesses, 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:20.479 and contacted families. In all, she was able to identify 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:24.839 sixty victims, fifty nine of whom were miners. 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:27.839 I was surprised over the course of the investigation to 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:32.960 find out exactly how large scale this case actually was. 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:36.120 It's one of the largest known cases of deep fake 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:39.880 pornography in the US that we know about. And just 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:44.680 like in Levittown, these young women knew the alleged suspects. 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:46.760 Which seems to be the case in most of the 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:49.520 ones that I've researched and seen across the country. Is 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:52.040 that most of the time it's not somebody that these 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:55.160 kids don't know. Sadly, it's someone that they do know. 0:12:56.360 --> 0:12:59.520 Just knowing that day in and day out, this person 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:03.079 was among them in their day to day life. Well, 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:04.960 they ate lunch, while they went to class, while they 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:06.959 played sports, you know whatever it was that they might 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:08.760 have had a class with one of their students. 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:14.240 School officials in Lancaster first learned about the deep Feek 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:17.319 images several months before Laurel got involved. 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:22.600 In November twenty twenty three, an anonymous tipster told school 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:28.320 officials that a student had created AI generated nude images 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:33.800 of their classmates. The school launched an internal investigation, but 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:39.120 couldn't corroborate the tip. They did not go to the police. 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:44.800 Months later, after another anonymous tip, they opened a new investigation. 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:50.320 After that, one of the suspects was identified and withdrew 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:54.920 from the school. The incident was reported by the school 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:59.880 to the state agency responsible for child abuse reporting. The 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:04.200 police had no idea this was happening until spring twenty 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:06.679 twenty four, when a mother told them. 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:09.880 A Lancaster Country Day High School student staged a walkout 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:13.520 this morning in protest of the administration's handling of the 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.760 private school's ongoing AI nude photo. 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:20.400 Scanned on this In November twenty twenty four, hundreds of 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:25.120 students and faculty walked out in protest of how the 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:30.000 school had handled the situation. Classes were canceled. One student 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:33.120 said she thought the action sent strong Massachestts school, that 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:35.840 students are upset with how the adults handle the AI 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:40.760 situation and that girls don't feel safe at school. Parents 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:44.960 were outraged about what they believed was negligence on the 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:48.560 part of the school, and they sued. As of the 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:52.880 end of January, the cases ongoing. Officials from the school 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:56.080 told us they cannot discuss the details of the matter. 0:14:56.480 --> 0:15:00.000 They said they are working on caring for their students 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:05.760 in the process of reviewing school policies. They also added 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:09.680 that they've begun additional staff training on child protection and 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:16.800 mandatory reporting. In the meantime. The suspects in the Lancaster 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:21.920 case have been charged with felony offenses, including sexual abuse 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:26.640 of children and the dissemination of child sexual abuse materials. 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:32.640 They're due to enter please soon. Police haven't shared their ages, 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:36.800 but according to local news reports, at least one of 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:41.120 them was in ninth grade at the time. They will 0:15:41.160 --> 0:15:46.400 be tried as miners. In Laurel's experience, that could mean 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:51.240 jail time or being sent to a rehabilitation facility for. 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:55.000 A facility that helps with the sexualized behaviors. It's a 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:57.800 more of a treatment than a punishment, I guess you 0:15:57.800 --> 0:15:58.280 could say. 0:15:58.720 --> 0:15:59.960 So that's one possible. 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:02.600 The other possibility is just a detention center like you 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:06.920 would expect there to be. But it's nice that we 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:11.160 have that option, that we have done that before. Worry 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:14.400 you sent them to a treatment facility to again fix 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:17.800 the behavior so it doesn't continue into adulthood. 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:22.680 Because that's the other issue in these cases that have 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:25.680 popped up across the country. The people who are behind 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:30.600 deep fakes, non consensual pornography and the harassment are often 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:34.520 the same age as they're victims. As deep fake technology 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:39.080 becomes ubiquitous, intuitive, and easier to use, the users become 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:43.000 younger and younger, coming to these sites right when their 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:47.440 desires and their concept of sexuality is starting to be hardwired, 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:52.280 and while they're exploring this part of themselves. Instead of 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:55.520 grabbing a playboy from underneath dad's bed or sneaking a 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:59.120 glance at Skinomax, they can now make in trade pictures 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:03.120 of people that they actually know without necessarily understanding the 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:07.000 consequences both psychologically and legally. 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:10.120 These kids can do it in the privacy of their bedroom. 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:11.720 No one knows that they're doing it, and that just 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:15.280 creates this start on the line of deviancy, where now 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:17.920 it's okay, well, if I can look at that, then 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:20.479 maybe I should try girls my age, which is what 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:23.760 we see a lot, is that they're looking at They're 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.960 looking at pornographic images for kids their age, which for 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:32.000 them doesn't seem wrong because it's their age, but it 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:34.080 is still child pornography. 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.280 Of course. And I guess if they can't find pictures 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:40.720 on the Internet of girls their age, now there are 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:58.200 apps allowing them to create it themselves. Yes, at this point, 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:02.639 it isn't a crime federal law to create and share 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:07.560 deep fake pornography, and the Supreme Court hasn't ruled on 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:11.040 what can be deep faked legally and what can't be. 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:16.439 There is a constitutional prerogative to protect free speech, but 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:21.040 stopping non consensual deep fake pornography is one of the 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:27.199 few things that nearly everyone in Congress openly supports. In fact, 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:32.280 in twenty twenty four, the Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:36.359 measure that would regulate deep fake pornography, making it a 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:42.000 federal offense to make and distribute non consensual deep fake porn, 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:46.760 and it would require social media companies to remove the 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:54.000 images within forty eight hours of being reported. Companies like Meta, Google, 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:58.920 and TikTok all came out in support. The bill died 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:01.280 in the House at the end of twenty twenty four, 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:04.520 but its backers say it's a priority for them to 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:08.120 reintroduce and pass it into law in the new session. 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:13.119 And while states are trying to pass their own laws, 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:16.720 many are written so that only people under the age 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:22.000 of eighteen can be considered victims of deep fake pornography. Still, 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:27.040 other states, like New York, have now expanded existing revenge 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:32.280 porn statutes to include deep fakes, but this can mean 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:36.400 that a victim has to prove intent that the person 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:40.560 who made and posted the image actually wanted to do 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:47.439 them harm. In Pennsylvania, law enforcement officials like Laurel are 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:52.080 using child sexual abuse statutes to charge miners in non 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:57.960 consensual pornography cases. Late last year, Pennsylvania passed a bill 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:03.600 expanding the definition of the quote unlawful dissemination of an 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:10.760 intimate image to include deep fake pornography. So whatever legal 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:20.760 protections do exist are patchwork, uneven and untested. But there 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:26.840 are other officials going after the people profiting from this technology. 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:30.160 If you could just start by introducing yourself, that would 0:20:30.160 --> 0:20:31.080 be perfect. 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:35.800 Sure. I'm David Chu. I'm the City Attorney of San Francisco. 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:39.560 David Chu had first heard about Newdifi apps through the 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:43.400 women in his office, who were both lawyers and mothers 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:47.440 of teenage girls. He said, he realized how dangerous these 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:50.679 websites and apps could be, and he decided to act. 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:53.919 We have brought a first of its kind lawsuit against 0:20:53.960 --> 0:21:00.159 the world's largest websites engaged in AI facilitated exploitation. We 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:04.560 have sued sixteen of the most visited websites that create 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:08.960 and distribute AI generated non consensual pornography. 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:12.640 Choose Office filed the suit in August twenty twenty four, 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:16.960 arguing the new Deify sites not only violate federal and 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:21.760 state criminal statutes against revenge pornography and child pornography, but 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:26.000 also california is unfair competition law, which regulates how companies 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:27.320 can advertise online. 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:31.320 Collectively, these websites have been visited over two hundred million 0:21:31.440 --> 0:21:34.320 times in the first six months of this year in 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:38.240 twenty twenty four. These operators are profiting from this content. 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:42.280 They require users to subscribe or pay to generate images, 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:45.320 and they know exactly what they're doing. They know that 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:49.760 this is non consensual. These images are incredibly realistic. There's 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:53.800 one website that specifically promoted the non consensual nature of this, 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:58.000 and I quote, imagine wasting time taking her out on 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:01.520 dates when you can just use website xxx to get 0:22:01.560 --> 0:22:05.320 her notes. And so our lawsuit, among other things, is 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:06.800 seeking to shut them down. 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:11.280 Have you heard from any of the companies named in 0:22:11.320 --> 0:22:12.000 the lawsuits. 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:16.440 It will be interesting to see if they scurry out 0:22:16.480 --> 0:22:18.600 of the darkest corners of the Internet to defend this. 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:24.879 She says. His office hasn't heard from many of the 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:28.000 companies named in the lawsuit, and his office might be 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:31.840 waiting a while because these sixteen websites and apps are 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:35.679 being developed all over the world. One of these websites 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:38.800 is draw Needs, the same one Olivia and I used 0:22:38.800 --> 0:22:41.040 to make a deep fake of me. You can find 0:22:41.040 --> 0:22:45.880 it easily, but finding out who runs the app that's trickier. 0:22:46.680 --> 0:22:48.560 We tried following the money when it came to the 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:52.600 draw neuds app. We paid eight dollars for their premium service, 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:56.159 which allowed us a window into how they collect the cash. 0:22:56.640 --> 0:22:58.960 Making a payment isn't as easy as typing in your 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:02.120 credit card, So when I was trying to pay, it 0:23:02.160 --> 0:23:05.440 takes you off app and you talk to these dealers. 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:09.920 It's a live chat and you'll say to them, here 0:23:10.480 --> 0:23:14.000 you have a specific link that corresponds to your account, 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:17.560 and they'll say, okay, here's a PayPal link. Go to 0:23:17.600 --> 0:23:20.640 that PayPal account, give me the transaction ID, and then 0:23:20.720 --> 0:23:24.159 I will go and kind of put those coins that 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:28.160 you get, the eight dollars worth of coins into your app. 0:23:28.720 --> 0:23:31.080 Why there's so many steps to get coins to. 0:23:31.440 --> 0:23:35.600 Do this, I think there's a couple of reasons. It 0:23:35.640 --> 0:23:38.160 could be that they are just trying to hide their tracks. 0:23:39.119 --> 0:23:41.960 If you are paying people to use their PayPal accounts, 0:23:42.160 --> 0:23:44.959 there's no link back to you, so there's no paper record. 0:23:45.960 --> 0:23:49.040 The other reason that you know that it's not just 0:23:49.040 --> 0:23:51.600 a simple use your credit card thing is because a 0:23:51.640 --> 0:23:56.040 lot of companies, payment processing companies are now banning these 0:23:56.119 --> 0:24:01.280 kind of apps. The truth is it's not really complicated 0:24:01.320 --> 0:24:04.719 for the consumer, but those extra steps make it harder 0:24:04.840 --> 0:24:08.760 to determine the identity and the finances of the developers. 0:24:09.800 --> 0:24:13.439 And that's exactly who he wanted to find so we 0:24:13.480 --> 0:24:15.879 went looking for the guy whose name appeared to be 0:24:15.920 --> 0:24:18.920 connected to draw nudes to ask him about a lot 0:24:18.960 --> 0:24:28.720 of things, including the lawsuit. I was looking for a 0:24:28.760 --> 0:24:31.720 guy named Cyril. What I know about him is he 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:34.960 appears to be in his early thirties and he's from Ukraine. 0:24:35.680 --> 0:24:38.040 His hair is long enough to tuck behind both ears. 0:24:38.520 --> 0:24:40.639 He looks more like a DJ than a tech mogul. 0:24:41.160 --> 0:24:44.199 He has an active social media presence and appears to 0:24:44.200 --> 0:24:47.200 have a model girlfriend. He moved to the United States 0:24:47.240 --> 0:24:50.639 before the war in twenty twenty one and lives somewhere 0:24:50.680 --> 0:24:56.360 in the US. Cyril has several businesses. He's talked publicly 0:24:56.400 --> 0:24:58.919 about one of them, which acts as a sort of 0:24:58.920 --> 0:25:03.600 broker for internet for a fee. Cyril's company helps a 0:25:03.680 --> 0:25:06.840 business to advertise on the web. Here he is at 0:25:06.840 --> 0:25:10.920 a conference in Thailand in December talking about marketing supplements. 0:25:11.800 --> 0:25:15.400 This one promises everything from weight loss to bigger muscles 0:25:15.680 --> 0:25:16.840 and better erections. 0:25:17.240 --> 0:25:19.959 I run the agency and we help like we and 0:25:19.960 --> 0:25:23.720 we helped to some neutral guys like to scale or 0:25:23.760 --> 0:25:27.320 like to build the Neutra offers or neutral whitehead brands. 0:25:28.640 --> 0:25:31.600 But it was another one of Cyril's companies that caught 0:25:31.640 --> 0:25:35.520 our attention sole e Com, which was listed on the 0:25:35.520 --> 0:25:38.440 bottom of the draw News homepage and in the David 0:25:38.520 --> 0:25:42.760 Chu lawsuit. Sole eCOM has a registered address in Los Angeles. 0:25:43.560 --> 0:25:46.600 I spent weeks trying to contact Cyril and anyone who 0:25:46.720 --> 0:25:49.919 might know him. That's when we tried knocking on the 0:25:49.920 --> 0:25:54.720 placelisted is soul Ecom's office. Hi, my name is Margie. 0:25:55.240 --> 0:25:57.880 Are you Pilo? Oh? 0:25:57.960 --> 0:26:00.000 Okay, so I'm a reporter. 0:25:59.720 --> 0:26:02.359 From The person who answered said they'd never heard of 0:26:02.400 --> 0:26:05.680 his name or the business. But more than a month 0:26:05.720 --> 0:26:09.520 after I started looking for him, Cyril finally picked up 0:26:09.560 --> 0:26:14.000 the phone. We talked for maybe half an hour. During 0:26:14.040 --> 0:26:17.520 the conversation, Cyril was adamant that sole eComm and draw 0:26:17.560 --> 0:26:22.120 Nudes were separate companies. He said that, like his other clients, 0:26:22.480 --> 0:26:25.200 the developers of draw Nudes app had come to him 0:26:25.440 --> 0:26:28.960 for help marketing their product. He also said he had 0:26:29.000 --> 0:26:34.080 actually met the app's owners, two men, he says, one 0:26:34.400 --> 0:26:36.879 a Russian living in Cyprus who was big in the 0:26:36.920 --> 0:26:41.600 porn industry, the other a Belarusian who lived in the States. 0:26:42.560 --> 0:26:45.840 Cyril said that after reading several negative articles about the 0:26:45.920 --> 0:26:49.600 draw Nudes app, he told the developers he didn't want 0:26:49.600 --> 0:26:52.720 to work with them anymore. Cyril told me that he 0:26:52.800 --> 0:26:55.680 in soul eCOM, had not received any form of payment 0:26:55.720 --> 0:27:00.159 from Drawnuds or its developers. We spoke several times, but 0:27:00.280 --> 0:27:04.520 after our last conversation, promising to speak again, we hung 0:27:04.640 --> 0:27:09.600 up and then he ghosted me. I emailed, rang, sent 0:27:09.680 --> 0:27:14.159 telegram messages, booked time on his calendly. All the while 0:27:14.560 --> 0:27:18.160 I watched Cyril attend a tech conference in Thailand, travel 0:27:18.240 --> 0:27:21.760