Ottawa police have charged two men after an investigation into alleged AI-generated sexual and violent images involving women across Canada.
Ottawa police have charged two men after a multi-jurisdictional investigation into the alleged online exploitation of women through AI-generated sexual and violent images, a case that court documents say involves up to 25 alleged victims.
The women described to CBC News feeling violated, frightened and unsure about where the images may have spread after learning that pictures from social media accounts had allegedly been altered into realistic-looking deepfake photos and videos. The allegations have not been tested in court.
Stephen Lowe, 60, of Maitland, N.S., faces 79 charges, police said, including harassment, uttering threats, publishing or possessing obscene material for distribution, and child sexual abuse material offences. Gregry Van Beek, 38, of West Nipissing, Ont., who his lawyer says goes by Peter Van Beek, is charged with harassment by watching and besetting, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, uttering threats and publishing intimate images without consent.
Lawyers for both accused declined to comment to CBC News. Both men remain in custody, according to the report.
CBC News said it spoke with 10 women, ages 24 to 64, whose images they say police identified in connection with the case. The women live in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Nunavut, all places where Lowe has lived, though not all are currently identified as victims in the Ottawa court case.
One woman, identified by CBC only as C.M. because she fears for her safety, said an ordinary photo of her had been turned into something disturbing. “It was disgusting to see that like an innocent photo of myself, he had turned to something so vile,” she said.
The images described in the report included women’s real faces placed into AI-generated scenes depicting sexual violence, bondage, kidnapping and torture. Some women said images showed them naked, including when they were minors. CBC reported that it viewed some of the material and is not naming the website involved to avoid further harm.
Police told CBC the investigation began after a report about a woman depicted in harmful online content. Investigators later found there appeared to be more than one possible victim and that the case crossed jurisdictional boundaries.
Emails reviewed by CBC said RCMP told affected women that known profiles used to distribute the images had been removed and that one main hosting website had been taken offline. CBC later confirmed the site was back online with a message saying it had strengthened moderation systems to detect and enforce against illegal content.
The case has renewed attention on gaps in Canadian law. Canada has prohibited sharing intimate images without consent since 2014, but experts cited by CBC said the law does not clearly cover deepfakes. A federal bill known as the Protecting Victims Act, or Bill C-16, would expand the law to include sexual deepfakes and is expected to return to the House of Commons for third reading next week.
For the women who spoke publicly, the legal process is only one part of the fallout. Several told CBC they worry images may have been downloaded, copied or shared further, and that personal details such as addresses may have circulated online. The next major development is expected in court, where prosecutors will have to prove the allegations against the accused.
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