{"id":30562,"date":"2026-05-07T05:33:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T05:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/30562\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T05:33:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T05:33:17","slug":"center-point-arrest-highlights-growing-concerns-over-ai-generated-explicit-images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/30562\/","title":{"rendered":"Center Point arrest highlights growing concerns over AI-generated explicit images"},"content":{"rendered":"

CENTER POINT, Ala. (WBRC<\/a>) – 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. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a case cybersecurity experts say reflects a growing concern tied to artificial intelligence and increasingly accessible online image-manipulation tools.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Investigators allege Elliott took photos from the victim\u2019s 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\u2019s consent.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s \u201cdistribute private image\u201d statute.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not surprised because in recent years, there\u2019s been a huge development in face-swapping tools using AI,\u201d Hasan said. \u201cSo it\u2019s really easy for just anyone to use these free online-based tools to swap faces on a photograph or even a video.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hasan said many of these tools are widely available and require little technical expertise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese days, these tools are widely available,\u201d Hasan said. \u201cThere 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne mistake a lot of people do is to keep their social media public,\u201d Hasan said. \u201cDon\u2019t post your photos, especially those photos showing your face, close-up views of your face. Don\u2019t post them on social media publicly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hasan added that while social media remains a useful tool, users should take advantage of privacy controls and limit exposure of personal content.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s OK to share them, but just share them with friends,\u201d Hasan said. \u201cCheck your settings and make sure content you share on social media stays private, only accessible by friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also warned that AI-generated content is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from real images.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Photoshop came out, we started to realize photos can be doctored or changed,\u201d Hasan said. \u201cThe problem with AI is that AI makes the task really easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith edited photos, sometimes it was easy to figure out that it was an edited photo,\u201d he added. \u201cBut with AI, they look very real.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond explicit imagery, Hasan said AI tools are also being used in scams involving impersonation and fake online identities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith these AI tools, they can take anyone\u2019s photo and create lots of images using their faces,\u201d Hasan said. \u201cSo if you get a social media message with someone\u2019s photo, please verify offline that that account actually belongs to that person.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also cautioned that even video communication is not immune.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven video is easy to fake,\u201d Hasan said. \u201cThere are apps online that allow people to go on live video with a fake face or impersonate someone using their face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Authorities have not released additional details about the investigation.<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 WBRC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CENTER POINT, Ala. (WBRC) – A Center Point man is facing charges after investigators say he used altered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,2320,25,2318,19838,313,19842,19840,19839,19841,19843,19844,19845,225,1109,19846,19847],"class_list":{"0":"post-30562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ai","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-alabama","10":"tag-artificial-intelligence","11":"tag-birmingham","12":"tag-center-point","13":"tag-cybersecurity","14":"tag-david-heinrich-elliott","15":"tag-explicit-images-manipulated","16":"tag-image-manipulation","17":"tag-image-manipulation-tools","18":"tag-jefferson-county","19":"tag-jefferson-county-district-court","20":"tag-ragib-hasan","21":"tag-safety","22":"tag-social-media","23":"tag-uab","24":"tag-university-of-alabama-birmingham"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}