A Quebec Court judge has sentenced a Sherbrooke, Que., man to more than three years in prison for using deepfake technology to produce images of child pornography. Quebec's provincial flag flies on a flag pole in Ottawa on June 30, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
MONTREAL – A Quebec Court judge has sentenced a Quebec man to prison for using artificial intelligence to produce synthetic images of child pornography.
Provincial court judge Benoit Gagnon sentenced Steven Larouche, 61, to eight years in prison for a series of sex crimes, including possession of child pornography.
Larouche pleaded guilty to possessing more than 545,000 computer files containing images or videos of child sexual abuse, and to creating at least seven videos with so-called deepfake technology.
Gagnon wrote in his ruling earlier this month that he worries deepfake technology exposes virtually all children to having their images used in the creation of pornography.
He says the technology allows criminals to steal images of children from social media and superimpose them onto images or videos of children who are being sexually abused.
Gagnon says the creation of synthetic images of sexual abuse encourages the market for child pornography and makes it more difficult for police to stop the spread of the illicit material.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 26, 2023.
