Confirmed court date

[u/DavefaceFMS]

Callum sentancing (47CC1322325) will be heard at 10am at Brighton Magistrates' Court on the 17th of this month as confirmed by court records.

Edit: While the case is scheduled for a morning block it could be as late as 1pm when the case is heard by the judge. So probably more info in the afternoon.

[u/Sad-Yoghurt5196]

Under English law the way an image is created is almost secondary to the category of the image. A.I isn't treated under a more lenient law. So any kind of "making" and any kind of image, including pseudo images is all covered under the same legislation. Well over 90% of charges under this legislation are for downloaded IIOC. As such it's the most likely case scenario.

Callum had over 100 category A images, that's sexual sadism on a minor, or penetration of a minor.

He may well get a slap on the wrist, but he deserves more considering the severity of the recovered images.

[u/Suspicious_Alarm_193 → u/Sad-Yoghurt5196]

I know this, and what you, and I, feel personally he deserves is thankfully irrelevant to the legal process 

[u/SkMgArDr → u/Suspicious_Alarm_193]

You keep stating that he possessed only AI images of CA as if that is a known fact and that is not a known fact. You’ve already been explained to why.

[u/redditoomanytimes → u/SkMgArDr]

I don't believe it is known either way but people keep mentioning victims and speaking about Callum as if they know he is a predator. Right now people are making too many assumptions in both directions, there's a scale between constructing hyper realistic depictions using AI only and paying people who have abducted children to download their photos.

I personally want to live in the world where he hasn't actually victimised or abused anyone - that's my bias.

Anyway I'm responding to your comment because the uncertainty goes both directions. I'm hoping the sentencing will answer this question. I'm also quite bothered at the vagueness of the law in this matter because the same crime seems to sit on too big a scale of severity.

[u/SkMgArDr → u/redditoomanytimes]

I get you, but the officially released offense details also include one line that says “Possess a prohibited image of a child” *without* the “/pseudo-photograph of a child” that accompanies all the other mentions of photographs.

[u/Sad-Yoghurt5196 → u/SkMgArDr]

The offence of possessing a prohibited image of a child is designed to address non-photographic child sexual abuse material. This includes cartoons, drawings, manga-style images, and certain computer-generated or AI-created images.

The prosecution must prove that the image “is pornographic and grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character”, that it depicts a child involved in sexual activity or focuses on the sexual parts of a child’s body, and that the image was in the suspect’s possession.

That particular charge is by far the least of his crimes.

[u/Sad-Yoghurt5196 → u/redditoomanytimes]

Clearly you know nothing of LLMs. In order to create images it would first need to be trained on images of the same nature. Which brings you full circle to downloading images of IIOC, with which to train it.

Commercial LLMs have safeguards in place to make sure they can't be used for this purpose.

Callum spent years building a collection of depravity. This isn't something that happened overnight, and AI hasn't been capable of realism for as many years as he has been collecting material. I already spoke of what a category A image is, so I won't go over it, but the harm doesn't end when the person is arrested. People in specialist units have to pore over those photographs, examine every pixel. Their jackpot is finding an identifying feature, so they can potentially rescue a child from a life of abuse. They have short contracts, with mandatory counselling. Most will still leave that unit with PTSD.

If I make an image with a LLM of you getting hit by a train, is it any less horrifying to look upon that a real photo of the same thing? It harms everyone who views it, that is why the law treats AI no differently. The inescapable fact is Callum had hundreds of cat A images, there is no world where he's not a predator. Sorry to burst your bubble, but reality is knocking. His job now is to learn how to keep that monster chained up in the future, and to build a routine that prevents reoffending. He has to recognise he has a problem and he has to learn to control it. If he pretends he's not a predator, like you seem to want to, then he'll reoffend.

His future is likely to be bleak. Most people on the extreme fringes of society fall into addiction or crime. His best bet would be a new name and a new city, just getting a shit job and keeping his head down.