Army boots West Point cadet for extorting woman with AI-generated nude images
The Army dismissed a cadet from West Point after he was convicted of extortion and indecent conduct earlier this month for using generative artificial intelligence to create fake nude images of a woman, according to the academy and service court records.
Ex-cadet Cayden Cork threatened to publicly release the deepfakes of the woman if she did not send actual nude photos of herself, according to a charge sheet obtained by DefenseScoop Thursday. Cork pleaded guilty to the charges on Feb. 10 and a military judge sentenced him to be reprimanded, forfeit all pay and dismissed from the Army.
The judge, Col. Trevor Barna, also sentenced him to 10 days’ confinement, but an academy spokesperson said he was credited 10 days, resulting in no time in custody.
Officials have not disclosed which AI software tool Cork used to create the deepfakes. A spokesperson for the academy declined to provide additional information Thursday.
“This case highlights the ability of the military justice system to adapt to the ever-evolving landscape of technological advancement. While these developments can present novel challenges for investigators and prosecutors — as they certainly did here — the core principles of accountability and justice remain a constant,” Capt. Anthony Williamson, a prosecutor for the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel’s First Circuit, said in a statement.
The FBI has warned that use of AI to create illicit deepfakes was “accelerating” as it becomes increasingly easier to manipulate media with the technology. Last spring, Congress passed the Take It Down Act into law, a measure intended to criminalize the creation of non-consensual sexualized deepfakes.
Yet in January, at least 100 individuals collectively filed a lawsuit against xAI — Elon Musk’s company — after its large language model known as Grok allowed users to undress women and girls by “posing them in sexual positions in deepfake images publicly posted on X,” the lawsuit alleged. Musk previously posted on X that he was “not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok.”
Grok is expected to become part of the Defense Department’s stable of AI models in its GenAI.mil platform.
Throughout 2024, Cork used a public photo of a woman (whose identity was redacted in court records) and applied AI to create altered, sexualized images of her. He used multiple phone numbers to attempt to contact her, threatening in September 2024 to publicly release the altered images if she did not “send an ass pic,” according to his charge sheet.
He asked her “how accurate is this?” and “is this you” after sending her the altered image, according to the records. DefenseScoop could not find contact information for Cork to request comment. Stars and Stripes reported he is 20-years-old and from Florida.
“Ultimately, the result of this prosecution underscores that personal responsibility is not diminished because a crime was committed with the assistance of artificial intelligence,” Williamson said. “When service members use these emerging tools to commit serious crimes against fellow service members, the Army will act to protect victims and uphold good order and discipline.”
“Here, that included the dismissal of cadet Cork from both the U. S. Military Academy and the Army following his plea to felony-level offenses, a result that reflects the seriousness of his misconduct,” he added.
