Two men in federal court in Brooklyn face criminal charges alleging they used artificial intelligence to generate sexually explicit nude images of female celebrities, part of what prosecutors say is the growing spread of deepfake pornography online.
Cornelius Shannon, 51, and Arturo Hernandez, 20, were both arrested Tuesday, according to criminal complaints filed by federal prosecutors, and prosecutors alleged the men created AI-generated nude videos and photos of women. Prosecutors said the case is among the earliest brought under the “Take It Down Act,” a law signed last year by President Donald Trump aimed at curbing deepfake pornography.
In a statement, Joseph Nocella, the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, said the men had “used cutting-edge digital technology to create images that degraded and violated” dozens of women. Nocella also said, “This case makes clear that posting deepfake pornography is not a victimless crime,” according to the statement.
Prosecutors said Shannon, a resident of New Jersey, published at least 240 albums of AI-generated pornography featuring female politicians, musicians and singers, according to the complaint. The charging materials also said Shannon and Hernandez do not appear to be connected.
For Hernandez, prosecutors said the deepfakes included both celebrities and private women, including recent high school graduates. Hernandez is described in the complaints as a resident of Texas.
Under the Take It Down Act, prosecutors said Shannon and Hernandez face up to two years in prison. Attorneys for Shannon and Hernandez did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the report.
The Take It Down Act was signed last year by President Donald Trump and received bipartisan support, the report said. The law also drew public backing from first lady Melania Trump, according to the charging narrative described by prosecutors.
The arrests come amid broader concerns that generative AI tools are making sexually explicit fakes easier to produce at scale, sometimes depicting minors. The report noted that last month an Ohio man became the first person convicted under the act after pleading guilty to using AI to generate child sexual abuse material.
The report also pointed to other recent developments involving AI-created sexual images: in March, two teenage boys received probation for creating explicit AI images of their classmates at a private school in Pennsylvania. It also referenced a separate case earlier this year in Tennessee, where three teenagers sued Elon Musk’s xAI, alleging that the company’s Grok tools morphed their real photos into explicitly sexual images; the teenagers said they are seeking class-action status to represent what the lawsuit says are thousands of people similarly victimized as minors.
Even as AI developers and platforms continue to market generative tools, federal prosecutors and lawmakers are framing the new law as a response to alleged harm caused when AI-generated images are circulated without consent, particularly where the fakes involve real people and, prosecutors say, vulnerable victims.