Four arrested for selling obscene AI images in first crackdown of its kind

Suspects sold posters with obscene images on internet auction sites last year

Japanese police have arrested four people for selling AI-generated obscene images in the first of its kind clampdown on the sale of pornographic images in the country.

The suspects, arrested in Tokyo, were accused of selling posters with obscene images on internet auction sites in October of last year, NHK reported.

They had allegedly used AI software to make nude images of non-existent women.

The posters were reportedly sold for thousands of yen.

A 2019 study by Dutch AI company Sensity found that around 96 per cent of deepfake videos online were non-consensual pornography.

According to a survey by Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, the East Asian nation ranks third in traffic to websites that disseminate sexually explicit deepfake images, with over 18 million visits. The United States ranks second, while India ranks first in terms of users visiting these websites.

A police officer rides a bicycle in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Tokyo (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The survey, conducted with digital analytics firm Similarweb, analysed data from 41 websites that enabled users to produce sexually explicit images between December 2023 and November 2024.

Nearly 410,000 users in Japan visited these websites monthly, with 80 per cent accessing through their smartphones.

Digital technology experts have demanded better regulation of such content.

"It is believed that there has potentially been much more damage than we are aware of,” said professor Yuasa Harumichi of Meiji University.

“Regulations on fake porn should be imposed before the damage spreads, and discussions should start immediately,” he told NHK in December 2024.