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A Wisconsin software engineer was arrested on Monday<\/a> for allegedly creating and distributing thousands of AI-generated images of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Court documents describe Steven Anderegg as \u201cextremely technologically savvy,\u201d with a background in computer science and \u201cdecades of experience in software engineering.\u201d Anderegg, 42, is accused of sending AI-generated images of naked minors to a 15-year-old boy via Instagram DM. Anderegg was put on law enforcement\u2019s radar after the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children flagged the messages, which he allegedly sent in October 2023.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n According to information law enforcement obtained from Instagram, Anderegg posted an Instagram story in 2023 \u201cconsisting of a realistic GenAI image of minors wearing BDSM-themed leather clothes\u201d and encouraged others to \u201ccheck out\u201d what they were missing on Telegram. In private messages with other Instagram users, Anderegg allegedly \u201cdiscussed his desire to have sex with prepubescent boys\u201d and told one Instagram user that he had \u201ctons\u201d of other AI-generated CSAM images on his Telegram.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Anderegg allegedly began sending these images to another Instagram user after learning he was only 15 years old. \u201cWhen this minor made his age known, the defendant did not rebuff him or inquire further. Instead, he wasted no time in describing to this minor how he creates sexually explicit GenAI images and sent the child custom-tailored content,\u201d charging documents claim.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When law enforcement searched Anderegg\u2019s computer, they found over 13,000 images \u201cwith hundreds \u2014 if not thousands \u2014 of these images depicting nude or semi-clothed prepubescent minors,\u201d according to prosecutors. Charging documents say Anderegg made the images on the text-to-image model Stable Diffusion, a product created by Stability AI, and used \u201cextremely specific and explicit prompts to create these images.\u201d Anderegg also allegedly used \u201cnegative prompts\u201d to avoid creating images depicting adults and used third-party Stable Diffusion add-ons that \u201cspecialized in producing genitalia.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Last month, several major tech companies including Google,\u00a0Meta, OpenAI, Microsoft, and Amazon said they\u2019d review their AI training data for CSAM. The companies committed to a new set of principles<\/a> that include \u201cstress-testing\u201d models to ensure they aren\u2019t creating CSAM. Stability AI also signed on to the principles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n According to prosecutors, this is not the first time Anderegg has come into contact with law enforcement over his alleged possession of CSAM via a peer-to-peer network. In 2020, someone using the internet in Anderegg\u2019s Wisconsin home tried to download multiple files of known CSAM, prosecutors claim. Law enforcement searched his home in 2020, and Anderegg admitted to having a peer-to-peer network on his computer and frequently resetting his modem, but he was not charged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In a brief supporting Anderegg\u2019s pretrial detention, the government noted that he\u2019s worked as a software engineer for more than 20 years, and his CV includes a recent job at a startup, where he used his \u201cexcellent technical understanding in formulating AI models.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n