New Jersey deputy attorney general charged with using AI to create child pornography

Here with a disturbing arrest of a New Jersey public official, Deputy Attorney General Brian Fitzgerald, now charged with possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material. The 51-year-old was taken into custody at his Bucks County home yesterday. Authorities say he used AI to create the images. It's all part of a concerning trend. Yeah, New Jersey correspondent Trish Hartman live now in Lower Makefield Township with the staggering numbers about this, Trish. Yeah, Brian, Sarah, here in Lower Makefield Township, Police say about one in every four cyber tips that come in involving child pornography involve artificial intelligence somehow. Now, in this latest case, authorities say a deputy attorney general for the state of New Jersey used A.I. to create illegal images around children. Fifty-one-year-old Brian Fitzgerald, a deputy attorney general for the state of New Jersey, has been arrested and charged with using A.I. to create child pornography and sharing child pornography depicting real children using social media. According to the Office of the Attorney General, he was hired 10 years ago and worked on cases of insurance fraud. Police executed a search warrant at his Lower Makefield home in October, uncovering prompts and scripts used to generate child porn using AI programs, as well as chat logs under a suggestive username where he allegedly admitted to creating images and sharing them. Disgusting and disturbing and hopefully he gets what he deserves. It's awful. I think it's so sad. Lower Makefield's chief says this type of high-tech crime is becoming more common. It's creating more of these cases. It's creating more tips and more investigations that we need to follow up on. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children started tracking the use of artificial intelligence in child exploitation in 2023. That year, they handled just over 4,000 cases involving AI. By 2025, that number had ballooned to 400,000. This year, officials say they're on track to double that. They say some of the programs being used to create explicit material aren't necessarily meant for criminal purposes. Many of these tools and products have been rushed to market so quickly that, unfortunately, bad actors with the right kinds of prompts and the right kinds of technology can use them for really nefarious purposes. Fitzgerald was unable to post bail. Now, we asked the Attorney General's office about his employment status. A spokesperson told us that they are cooperating with investigators and are, quote, taking appropriate actions. when it comes to his employment status. Reporting live in Lower Makefield Township, Trish Hartman, Channel 6 Action News. Brian, Sarah. So disturbing. Trish, thank you.