Teen jailed for creating, spreading AI deepfake sexual content using teachers' faces

A teenager who used AI to create and distribute sexually exploitative deepfake content targeting teachers has been sentenced to prison and taken into custody in the courtroom.

Judge Lee Chang-kyung of the Incheon District Court's Criminal Division 1 on Wednesday sentenced the teenage defendant, identified only as A, to an indeterminate term of one year and six months to two years in prison under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Violence Crimes, on charges including the editing and distribution of fabricated video material. A was taken into custody immediately after sentencing.

Under the Juvenile Act, minors under the age of 19 at the time of an offense may receive an indeterminate sentence, which sets both an upper and lower limit on the prison term.

Judge Lee said the composite photos and videos A distributed depicted the faces of five teachers clearly, with their real names, ages, schools and subjects listed. "Some also included mobile phone numbers or Instagram IDs," the judge said.

The judge said the offense "degraded teachers — who educate students — into tools for satisfying distorted desires, amounting to sexual humiliation," adding that the conduct was of poor character and highly likely to draw social condemnation. "The teachers harmed by their own student have undergone long-term psychological treatment or suffered considerable trauma," the judge said.

The judge also noted that A had produced dozens of composite images of six other victims — including a middle school girl who attended the same taekwondo hagwon — to gain entry into a Telegram chatroom themed around what is colloquially known as "acquaintance humiliation," and had provided some of the images to the chatroom's operator. "The conduct is of poor character and is not without significant grounds for condemnation," the judge said.

The judge said A appeared to have committed the offenses driven by distorted impulses and curiosity stemming from emotional immaturity, and said the sentencing took into account that A had admitted to the charges and had no prior criminal record.

A was indicted on charges including using AI-generated deepfakes to superimpose the faces of five teachers onto nude images and distribute them on social media in August 2024, when A was a middle school student. The scheme was found to be premeditated: A had tricked a homeroom teacher into sending photos by claiming a phone had been reset and all contacts and images lost, then used those photos to create deepfakes.

A withdrew from school before a teacher protection committee hearing could be convened and received no disciplinary action as a result.

Including charges added during the trial, A was found to have produced deepfakes of 11 people — among them five teachers — on 35 separate occasions.