South Korean court sentences student to prison for creating 1,100 deepfake pornographic files

A 30-year-old Chinese international student in South Korea has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for creating 1,141 sexually explicit deepfake images and videos. The Seoul Northern District Court convicted the man of violating the Sexual Violence Punishment Act after he used artificial intelligence to superimpose the faces of seven people, including colleagues from his university research lab, onto explicit content.

During the investigation, it was revealed that the defendant attempted to bypass safeguards in the generative AI chatbot Grok to facilitate his actions. While the defendant attempted to pay 7 million won (approximately $5,200) to each victim as compensation, the victims refused the money and declined to reach a settlement, citing ongoing psychological trauma.

In addition to the prison term, the court ordered the defendant to complete 40 hours of sex offender treatment and barred him from working at facilities serving children, teenagers, or people with disabilities for five years. The judge noted that while the defendant showed remorse and had no prior criminal record, the nature of the offenses was particularly serious.