WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Police in West Palm Beach have linked one man to four instances of using artificial intelligence to show people fake and frightening scenarios and record their reactions for views online.
The content creator’s identity is protected for now, as he is not facing any formal charges related to his AI content, but his chaos for content model is now stirring up a legal debate.
According to West Palm Beach Police, the content creator showed a gas station clerk an AI video of someone being dragged away, Nov. 30.
Officers said this sparked an argument, and when they arrived at the scene, the 22-year-old content creator refused to give his home address, so they arrested him.
Although he is not being charged for the disturbing AI video, police said, the content creator did admit that he did all of it for social media. He even said that people would love his content even more because he was willing to get arrested.
Melanie Valentine was the first to report an incident like this. She said that a month ago, a man at a Home Depot store showed her an AI video of her truck being stolen and tried to get her into his car to try and “catch the guy.”
“I’m definitely glad that he’s been arrested, because my concern was obviously that he would do it to other people,” Valentine said. “It was certainly scary. It was shocking, honestly, how realistic the video was.”
Police said it’s the same man tied to four incidents, including one captured on body camera video. The footage shows the man recording a shopper, creating a fake video of him kissing another woman, and showing it to the man’s wife while recording her reaction on his Meta glasses.
“That’s going to be the charge. That’s not his wife. That’s a fake one,” the content creator said. He then said, “I made a banger with this one, boss. I think my last one at Home Depot hit like, I think, like a mil.”
“Well, that certainly didn’t feel like a prank,” Valentine said when describing her experience with the man.
Criminal defense attorney Stuart Kaplan said creating AI videos with people recorded in public is not illegal unless you can prove criminal intent.
“If AI is manipulated or falls into the wrong hands, it can present a very, very troubling and damaging scenario for our way of life,” Kaplan said.
Investigators warned that AI videos like this are getting more realistic, and you cannot always believe what you see, especially online.
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