The dark side of artificial intelligence

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - On Tuesday, South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley released a statement saying he and 53 other AGs in the nation are working to create an A.I. Exploitation Expert Commission.

Artificial Intelligence has become more widespread in recent months. While A.I. can be used for entertainment purposes, or helping medical personnel diagnose and treat patients without expensive or time consuming visits, it has taken a dark turn, as some are using the program, for child sex crimes.

“Some of the bad people out there are using A.I. in the child porn industry. They’re oftentimes taking off of social media a child’s face or voice, and they are generating that into computer generated child porn. That is not illegal in South Dakota at this time,” Jackley said.

Hollie Strand, forensic examiner for the Pennington County internet crimes against children task force, says that keeping your kids safe, often involves monitoring their internet usage.

“It falls on the parents. It falls on the parents to monitor their kids’ stuff. It falls on them to supervise, and if they take away their phones in the bedroom and the bathroom, they don’t need to be in there overnight. They don’t need to have them in the bathrooms where most of our illicit pictures are taken,” Strand continued.

Jackley is hoping the combined work of all the attorneys general will result in stronger federal crimes. He also plans to bring up the issue at the next South Dakota legislature session, ideally allowing local law enforcement to act on these reports as well.

“Hopefully we’re seeing action on the federal level to further strengthen the federal crimes on this Ai, and also to have the state legislature look at it beginning in January, and put in place, again at their discretion, whatever legislation they feel would best protect children and allow law enforcement to take action,” said Jackley.

According to Jackley, South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds has taken the lead for the Mount Rushmore state in bringing this to the U.S. Senate, and both Republican and Democratic representatives in the state’s legislature have responded positively to this proposal.

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