Overview
- Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York charged Arturo Hernandez and Cornelius Shannon this week with creating and posting thousands of AI-generated sexually explicit images and videos without consent.
- Court complaints allege the defendants uploaded hundreds of online albums that together depicted more than 140 women and drew millions of views on pornography sites.
- Alleged victims include celebrities, elected officials, musicians and private individuals including classmates and recent high-school graduates, according to filings.
- Both men face criminal counts under the 2025 Take It Down Act and up to two years in prison if convicted, and officials urged the public to report nonconsensual intimate imagery to law enforcement.
- The cases come after the law’s one-year platform compliance deadline and an earlier conviction, raising new questions about how quickly sites can detect and remove AI-manipulated images and how federal sentencing will set precedents.