AI Crimes are Starting to Surge in Dubuque County

Artificial intelligence (AI) has come on the scene full-force over the last couple years. It's as if we blinked and now it's ubiquitous. People use AI to create song parodies on TikTok. Certain websites are rife with AI-generated content (thankfully, not this one!). And even companies are touting ways they can implement AI for their businesses.

With all of that, AI is also being misused, and being that it's still so new, there aren't long-standing laws nor protocols for how to deal with some of the nefarious ways AI is being implemented. That not only makes it a legal gray area, it also makes the line between real and fake that much more nebulous. On the homefront, Dubuque County has seen a "surge" in AI misuse over the last several months.

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Per KWWL, in the past six months, three cases in Dubuque County have raised alarm bells regarding AI's impact on community safety. The most alarming case made headline news just months ago: a student made AI-generated nude images of 44 girls from Cascade High School. No charges have been filed yet, and it's caused rampant uncertainty for law enforcement regarding how to proceed.

KWWL notes that Iowa lawmakers have passed Senate File 2243, which makes it a Class D felony to create or possess sexualized AI images of minors, even if they are fake, so to speak (IE: entirely computer-generated). However, President Donald Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill," which is currently under consideration, has a provision that would prevent states from enforcing their AI regulations for the next 10 years.

Michael Kleinman, head of U.S. policy at the Future of Life Institute, spoke to KWWL about the severity of these situations and how difficult it can be to establish a precedent:

As our police departments and as our school districts try to put in place, what are the policies we need, how do we prosecute this? What kind of civil liability needs to be put in place? [....] One of the things that we're most concerned about looking ahead is the move by the federal government to potentially ban any state-level regulation of AI systems in the next 10 years - Michael Kleinman, per KWWL

At Hempstead High School, a staff member was accused of creating computer-generated images of students. There's also the case of a former Dubuque County correctional officer allegedly possessing AI-generated images of minors and other content deemed illegal.

Kleinman went on to say that many popular AI apps are built with models that were developed by American companies, and it's tough to discern the source of the images in question.

These aforementioned cases show that AI misuse is happening right here in Dubuque County, and that no community is truly immune from the dangers it can bring. There needs to be some serious regulation at the state level that tries to keep pace with increasingly powerful AI technology.

The scariest part, however, is that this is just the tip of the metaphorical iceberg.

Read more about AI criminal cases in Dubuque County on KWWL's website.