A Florida man is facing charges after authorities say he took photos of girls living in his neighborhood and used artificial intelligence to create child pornography.
Martin County Sheriff's Office officials said it was their first time handling a case of this type.
The suspect, 51-year-old Daniel Warren, is charged with 17 counts of child pornography.
Authorities said Warren used a photo of an underage girl he knew and devised a way to alter the image using AI.
“It's pretty scary to see this. You just look at it and you think it's a real photo. The technology has reached that level and it's very scary,” said Det. Brian Broughton said. “What he does is he takes pictures of children's faces, sexualizes them, takes off their clothes and makes them pose and do certain sexual acts. is the image created by this AI.
Warren was arrested at her Jensen Beach home thanks to a tip authorities received from the Internet Crimes Against Children group. Authorities said he was well known in the area where he lived.
“It was a behind-the-scenes operation because he was very friendly, not just to other families, but to a lot of the kids in the neighborhood,” Broughton said.
Authorities say more than 39 electronic devices were thoroughly analyzed by detectives, and the images discovered and shared were deeply disturbing.
“We're fighting a new style of crime because these kids didn't even know they were victims,” said Martin County Sheriff's Capt. Ruben Romero.
Warren appeared in court and bail was set at $1.5 million.