New Jersey deputy attorney general arrested in AI-CSAM case — Ars Technica

In the United States, Brian Richard Fitzgerald, a deputy attorney general for the state of New Jersey, was arrested on felony charges related to artificial intelligence-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). As Ars Technica reports, Bucks County detectives said the 51-year-old official was arrested at his home.

Investigators' version

According to law enforcement, Fitzgerald allegedly used AI to turn photographs of real minors from social media into sexualized images and then distributed them on social media.

The investigation began after the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received a report in July about an illegal image shared by a Discord user. According to detectives, digital forensics, subscriber data, and IP addresses linked to the account made it possible to establish Fitzgerald's home address.

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Charges and seized data

During the search, detectives said law enforcement seized prompts and scripts used to create AI-generated child sexual abuse material. They also said they found Discord chat logs in which a user under a pseudonym allegedly admitted to creating several illegal images using AI and sending them to other users.

According to detectives, Fitzgerald was charged with possession of CSAM, dissemination of images or videos containing such material, and criminal use of a communication facility. According to his LinkedIn profile, he had served as a deputy attorney general since 2016 and prepared insurance fraud and insurance violations cases for trial.

Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan said that New Jersey shares the position of the U.S. Department of Justice that AI-generated CSAM is just as harmful as other child sexual abuse material.