Two men were arrested and charged in Brooklyn on Tuesday for creating nude videos and photos using artificial intelligence, federal prosecutors said, in one of the earliest cases brought under the Take It Down Act. Prosecutors alleged that the men used AI to generate sexually explicit deepfake pornography featuring female celebrities, and they said the case is aimed at stopping the online spread of such images.
According to criminal complaints, federal prosecutors said Cornelius Shannon, 51, and Arturo Hernandez, 20, were among the first defendants to face charges under a law designed to address “deepfakes” and what prosecutors described as “revenge porn.” The defendants were charged under the newly enacted statute, which prosecutors said carries stricter penalties for publishing AI-created deepfakes.
In a statement, Joseph Nocella, the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, said the men “used cutting-edge digital technology to create images that degraded and violated” dozens of women. Nocella added that “This case makes clear that posting deepfake pornography is not a victimless crime,” according to prosecutors’ statement.
Prosecutors said Shannon, a resident of New Jersey, published at least 240 albums of AI-generated pornography that featured female politicians, musicians and singers. The complaint also alleged that Shannon and Hernandez were not connected to each other.
Prosecutors said Hernandez, of Texas, created deepfakes that included celebrities and also private women, including recent high school graduates. Prosecutors said the deepfake content they describe drew millions of views online.
The arrests come as generative AI tools have made it easier to produce increasingly realistic sexual content without the subjects’ consent, raising concerns that such material can be disseminated quickly on social media and other websites. Prosecutors also pointed to other recent cases involving AI-generated sexual abuse material, including an Ohio man who became the first person convicted under the Take It Down Act after pleading guilty to using AI to generate child sexual abuse material.
Federal prosecutors also cited earlier outcomes involving young people accused of creating explicit AI images of classmates, including two teenage boys in Pennsylvania who received probation after creating such material. Separately, prosecutors referenced a lawsuit filed earlier this year in Tennessee in which three teenagers sued Elon Musk’s xAI, accusing Grok tools of morphing their real photos into explicitly sexual images and seeking class-action status.
As charged, Shannon and Hernandez face up to two years in prison under the Take It Down Act, which was signed last year by President Donald Trump. The AP reported that the bill drew bipartisan support and that first lady Melania Trump backed it publicly.