Federal prosecutors this week charged two men with using artificial intelligence to generate and distribute non-consensual, sexually explicit images of women, representing a significant early enforcement action under the Take It Down Act.
Charges Filed
On Thursday, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York filed charges against Arturo Hernandez of Texas and Cornelius Shannon of New Jersey in separate cases involving alleged AI-generated deepfake pornography.
“The defendants used cutting-edge digital technology to create images that degraded and violated victims across the United States,” stated U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella. “This case makes clear that posting deepfake pornography is not a victimless crime.”
Prosecutors allege that Shannon and Hernandez posted thousands of AI-generated images and videos depicting real people—including actresses, singers, political figures, and recent high school graduates—engaged in sexual acts. The men allegedly uploaded more than 470 albums depicting over 140 women to websites, where the AI-generated images and videos received millions of views.
Court filings indicate that the images appeared to use real, non-explicit photographs that were altered with AI software to create sexually explicit content. The men face up to two years in prison.
Take It Down Act
President Donald Trump signed the Take It Down Act into law in May 2025. The legislation makes it a federal crime to knowingly publish or threaten to publish non-consensual intimate imagery, whether authentic or AI-generated. It also mandates that online platforms remove reported content within 48 hours.
The Take It Down Act garnered bipartisan support in Washington and comes as courts grapple with a rising number of lawsuits related to AI-generated deepfakes, including cases accusing Elon Musk’s xAI and its Grok chatbot of creating and distributing non-consensual sexualized images, including images depicting minors.
Several states, including California, Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania, have enacted similar laws targeting non-consensual intimate imagery and AI-generated deepfakes.
In April, James Strahler, of Columbus, Ohio, became the first person convicted under the law after pleading guilty to federal charges involving over 700 AI-generated sexually explicit images of adults and children.
“This predatory conduct represents a disturbing abuse of technology that inflicts emotional harm on victims, violating their privacy, dignity, and security,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle Jr. in a statement. “The use of this emerging technology to victimize individuals is not innovative—it is criminal and will be pursued with the full force of the law.”
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