The conversation surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) has grown quite tired, but an additional issue has recently arisen as a result of this rapidly growing technology, and it lies in the true crime space. Many true crime creators consider their work to be driven by the goal of spreading awareness for under-represented cases and helping viewers protect themselves from crime. However, there are certainly true crime content-creators that create strictly for entertainment purposes or financial benefit.
Long-time true crime creator, Stephanie Harlowe, and retired police detective and winner of Big Brother season 16, Derrick Levasseur, host the true crime podcast Crime Weekly. Their YouTube biography states, “They give plenty of insight and safety tips along the way to help make sure that no listener becomes the subject of the next episode.” Their intention is mainly to provide thorough insight into the background of cases and to protect one’s safety. On a recent installment of “Crime Weekly News,” the pair discussed a concerning but important issue regarding AI.
This episode, titled “AI Generated True-Crime Controversy,” details a YouTube channel named True Crime Case Files that has been allegedly uploading videos labeled as “true crime,” despite all of the stories being entirely AI generated.
The definition of true crime is “a nonfiction genre of literature, film, podcasts, etc. that depicts and examines real crime cases,” operative word being “real.” The negative ramifications of depicting these videos as true crime is the alarm that these ultra-graphic stories induced. These “cases” seem stranger than fiction because of their outlandishness. And, well, they are just that – fiction.
According to an article by the Denver Post, one of these videos garnered around two million views and 8,000 comments regarding the salacious murder in a video entitled “Husband’s Secret Gay Love Affair with Step Son Ends in Grisly Murder (True Crime Documentary).” This video led to viewers contacting their local news stations and badgering producers for the lack of news coverage on this unbelievable case.
While the creator of these videos doubled down and blamed consumers of true crime content for the mix-up, this case brings up an interesting legal question regarding the morality of AI in terms of the true crime genre.
Journalists of the Denver Post wasted time that could have been put towards cases that really do need attention, rather than investigations into fabricated stories about stepfather and stepson love affairs and murder or “panty stranglings.”
If alarmed community members contact their local law enforcement demanding a case be investigated, police hours are wasted. There are legitimate crimes occurring every minute that do need solving, and law enforcement does not have the time to address fictional cases.
In the state of New York, Falsely Reporting an Incident can be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony. In turn, the perpetrator may receive up to seven years in state prison. Saland Law also notes that, even when charged as a misdemeanor, this crime may be coupled with charges such as Reckless Endangerment.
So, could the creator of True Crime Case Files be charged with Falsely Reporting an Incident or Reckless Endangerment? He isn’t the one calling police municipalities reporting these crimes, but he does label fake stories as true crime which causes viewers to call in false reports, albeit unknowingly. In that case, could the viewers be charged with Falsely Reporting an Incident?
The fast growth of AI has brought up many questions for the legal field, and now in the true crime realm as well.
Even though the True Crime Case Files channel has been deleted, if there’s enough evidence to charge the creator with at least a misdemeanor, that action should be taken. Who’s to say that he won’t just create a new channel and continue to use AI to create devastating false stories to profit from? It would also act as a deterrent for others to behave in this same manner – wasting police hours, concerning community members and taking away from cases that do exist and need attention.
