CENTER POINT, Ala. (WBRC) – A Center Point man is facing charges after investigators say he used altered social media photos to create explicit images of a woman and shared them without her consent.
It’s a case cybersecurity experts say reflects a growing concern tied to artificial intelligence and increasingly accessible online image-manipulation tools.
According to criminal complaints filed April 30 in Jefferson County District Court, David Heinrich Elliott is charged with two counts of distributing a private image, a misdemeanor under Alabama law.
Investigators allege Elliott took photos from the victim’s Facebook page, digitally altered the images to make it appear she was nude, and then texted the manipulated photos to another person without the victim’s consent.
Court filings state the victim did not consent in writing to the distribution of the images and had a reasonable expectation of privacy against their transmission, elements required under Alabama’s “distribute private image” statute.
The case comes as experts warn artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the landscape of cybercrime, making it easier for nearly anyone to create realistic fake images and videos using publicly available photos from social media.
Cybersecurity expert Ragib Hasan, with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, says the rapid growth of AI-powered tools has significantly lowered the barrier to creating manipulated content.
“I’m not surprised because in recent years, there’s been a huge development in face-swapping tools using AI,” Hasan said. “So it’s really easy for just anyone to use these free online-based tools to swap faces on a photograph or even a video.”
Hasan said many of these tools are widely available and require little technical expertise.
“These days, these tools are widely available,” Hasan said. “There are lots of free tools available out there, and just about anyone can use that to create these kinds of images, especially explicit images or videos of anyone.”
Investigators say the images in the Center Point case were taken from Facebook, something Hasan says underscores the importance of limiting what is shared publicly online.
“One mistake a lot of people do is to keep their social media public,” Hasan said. “Don’t post your photos, especially those photos showing your face, close-up views of your face. Don’t post them on social media publicly.”
Hasan added that while social media remains a useful tool, users should take advantage of privacy controls and limit exposure of personal content.
“It’s OK to share them, but just share them with friends,” Hasan said. “Check your settings and make sure content you share on social media stays private, only accessible by friends.”
He also warned that AI-generated content is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from real images.
“When Photoshop came out, we started to realize photos can be doctored or changed,” Hasan said. “The problem with AI is that AI makes the task really easy.”
“With edited photos, sometimes it was easy to figure out that it was an edited photo,” he added. “But with AI, they look very real.”
Beyond explicit imagery, Hasan said AI tools are also being used in scams involving impersonation and fake online identities.
“With these AI tools, they can take anyone’s photo and create lots of images using their faces,” Hasan said. “So if you get a social media message with someone’s photo, please verify offline that that account actually belongs to that person.”
He also cautioned that even video communication is not immune.
“Even video is easy to fake,” Hasan said. “There are apps online that allow people to go on live video with a fake face or impersonate someone using their face.”
Authorities have not released additional details about the investigation.
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