MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – If you spend any time on social media, chances are you’ve seen ads for apps that turn pictures into videos.
Just upload an old photo and tell AI what you want it to do and then watch it come to life.
The problem with those apps is what happens when they’re used for the wrong reasons; that has never been more evident than when you look at what allegedly took place this past school year in Corinth, Mississippi.
Investigators say 30-year-old Wilson Jones, a now-former teacher at Corinth Middle School, was on the job when IT staff got a “severe” alert to sexually explicit content being downloaded onto his computer.
“The community was furious as they should have been,” said Corinth police chief Landon Tucker, who says he was first alerted about the situation from the Mississippi Department of Education.
According to court records obtained by Action News 5, investigators found three videos of children kissing and exposing themselves on Wilson’s laptop.
The videos were deep fakes created using artificial intelligence, depicting the faces and bodies of eight female students between 14 and 16 years old according to the FBI.
“It’s real hard because these are people I grew up with, that my children are friends with,” said Chief Tucker.
The girls were never actually filmed, the videos were completely computer-generated.
A disturbing new trend in online C-SAM, Child Sexual Abuse Material.
“It’s a new problem. It’s a new problem for parents. It’s a new problem for teens. It’s a new problem for lawmakers,” said Chris Mackenzie with Americans for Responsible Innovation.
Earlier this year, the non-profit lobbied Congress to pass the “Take It Down” Act, criminalizing C-SAM digital forgeries and mandating social media platforms remove the content within 48 hours once notified.
“So that’s a much faster turnaround time. Previously these teens that had been a target had nowhere to go for help,” said Mackenzie.
However, removing fake explicit content is one thing, but preventing it from being created is something else altogether.
According to the federal arrest affidavit, Wilson Jones told investigators he took pictures from the girls’ social media accounts and then according to FBI agents who analyzed his computer, Jones used an easily accessible AI generator to make the illicit videos.
He is now charged with possessing and creating them.
“I’ve been an agent for 20 years and I’ve seen it the entirety of my career. It’s just evolving to better presentation I should say.”
Special Agent Taneka Blackwell with the FBI field office in Memphis says new advancements in AI technology make it even harder for law enforcement and parents to keep up!
“Parents sometimes have to log out of their own social media accounts and log into their children’s account because they may be the first line of defense for those who are trying to exploit their children, groom their children,” said Blackwell.
In July, Tennessee made it a felony to possess or distribute synthetic or digitally-created images of minors in pornographic context.
Arkansas and Mississippi have similar laws on the books.
It’s a new realm for prosecution, considering no physical contact or otherwise has to be made between a predator and victim.
However, Blackwell says this is certainly not a victimless crime.
“It isn’t victimless because those images are out there forever,” said Blackwell.
“As you know as it relates to children maturing, going to college, applying for scholarships, applying for jobs–a Google search of their image may pull those things up and they had no idea. They gave no consent for that to be created in their likeness,” said Blackwell, who says the FBI has multiple tools in their toolbox to go after predators who commit these crimes.
Parents in Corinth didn’t find out about the case against Wilson Jones until this past March, despite Jones allegedly getting caught with the videos and resigning in November.
Court records show then-Corinth District Superintendent Dr. Lee Childress waited more than two months to contact police over Jones’ alleged activities.
Childress was indicted for hindering the prosecution.
Action News 5 spoke to the new interim Superintendent Dr. John Barnett just before the start of this school year.
Barnett wants to ensure parents that their children are safe while in school.
“We value the opportunity to work with children and educate and our focus is to do what’s best for children moving forward,” said Barnett who says the district has new partnership with Corinth Police to create a quicker streamline to report such incidents.
“We evaluated our policies to make sure everything is updated and in alignment with technology and artificial intelligence to make sure that was addressed with our policies,” said Barnett.
The official federal charge against Wilson Jones is Production and Possession of Morphed Image of Child Pornography.
FBI Agent Blackwell says if you become a victim of deep fakes or sexploitation – do not delete any images or conversations, no matter how embarrassing.
She says keep them for evidence and call the FBI immediately- 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Neither Wilson Jones nor his attorney responded to our requests to interview them for this report.
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