He used artificial intelligence to generate over 900 child pornography images that are difficult to distinguish from real ones. For this reason, a 52-year-old man, resident in Venice, was arrested by the State Police, following a comprehensive investigation coordinated by the Venice prosecutor's office. The court authorities ordered the residence search, which resulted in the finding of an advanced technological system designed to manufacture child pornography images. Hundreds of virtual images were discovered on the man's computing devices. While they lacked a real-world counterpart, they were incredibly accurate and the outcome of advanced automated generating techniques. The suspect was employing generative artificial intelligence models—neural networks trained on a large number of real photos, including illicit ones—capable of creating fresh visual content representing minors in sexually explicit situations. Investigators describe the situation as "a worrying evolutionary scenario of cybercrime, in which the potential of artificial intelligence is being used for criminal purposes".