VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — As the school year beings, Virginia Beach Police are warning about photo manipulation through artificial intelligence (AI) and sexting.
Earlier this summer, News 3 spoke with a teenager who says someone messaged her images of herself that had been manipulated with AI to become pornographic images.
"My heart completely dropped," Maggie Southall Bartz told News 3. "It was so disturbing. I wanted to throw up."
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A police detective recently sat down with News 3 to talk about the issue of AI-manipulated photos.
Det. Briana Spratley told News 3 the department does see cases where AI is used to manipulate images; other times, it's just simply putting someone's head on a naked body.
"It's absolutely a crime. Altering a body of anyone who's under 18 to make it appear nude is production of child pornography, which is a class six felony and punishable by time spent in jail," said Spratley.
Over the years, investigators have warned about people overseas targeting people online in America, but Spratley says more and more it's happening here.
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"These people are your next-door neighbors, your kids' friends down the street, your schoolmates, their friends. They're closer to home now," said Spratley.
While this is an issue the police department sees, Spratley says more frequently they investigate cases of sexting, where teens are sending each other nude images.
If a couple breaks up or has a falling out, the images can be maliciously shared on social media or text message — commonly known as "revenge porn" — which has led to tragic consequences.
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"It's very serious," says Spratley. "We have had teens commit suicide based on these kinds of cases."
A 2020 study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health found 14% of teenagers had sent and 23% had received sexually explicit images.
Spartley recommends parents monitor their childrens' cell phone activity and be aware of the apps they're using.
With more and more kids having cellphones at younger ages, it's easier than ever for them to find themselves in these types of scenarios.
"Technology - AI of course comes back to haunt us," Spratley said. "Kids are tech savvy, more tech savvy than we were back in the 90s and early 2000s. They just know how to manipulate and use phones and pictures and make it look a certain way and get away with it."
