Calgary Teen Charged with Creating AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material from Classmates' Photos

In October 2025, Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams' Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit received a tip about child sexual abuse materials being uploaded to a social media platform (Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams, 2025; CBC News, 2025). The investigation revealed that a 17-year-old had used AI tools to transform authentic photos of girls from multiple Calgary-area high schools into sexualized images and distributed the material online (Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams, 2025; CBC News, 2025).

On November 13, 2025, ICE officers, assisted by Calgary Police Service, executed a search warrant and seized two cellphones, a tablet, and a laptop (Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams, 2025). On December 3, 2025, ALERT announced charges against the teen — who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act — for making, possessing, and distributing child sexual abuse and exploitation material (Criminal Code s. 163.1) and criminal harassment (s. 264) (Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams, 2025; CBC News, 2025; Global News, 2025). Staff Sergeant Mark Auger of ALERT ICE stated: "Our biggest takeaway from today is we need people to understand that this is not a joke. It's not a prank. This is the most extreme form of bullying and a criminal offence" (Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams, 2025).

The case is the first Canadian criminal prosecution of a minor for AI-generated child sexual abuse material, and the first school-targeting deepfake incident in Canada to result in criminal charges (Global News, 2025; Calgary Journal, 2025). Two prior incidents — at a Winnipeg school in December 2023 (CBC News, 2023) and a London, Ontario school in April 2024 (CBC News, 2024) — involved students creating AI-generated deepfake nudes of classmates, but neither resulted in charges. In the Winnipeg case, police ultimately laid no charges, citing multiple factors including evidence issues, victims' wishes, and gaps in Manitoba's intimate image laws which did not cover altered images (CBC News, 2024). Manitoba subsequently introduced Bill 24 in March 2024 to expand its intimate image protections to cover AI-altered images. The London case similarly produced no charges or disclosed disciplinary consequences (CBC News, 2024).

The legal basis for prosecution rests on Criminal Code section 163.1, which defines child sexual abuse material broadly as "a photographic, film, video or other visual representation, whether or not it was made by electronic or mechanical means" depicting a person "who is or is depicted as being under the age of eighteen years." This language — particularly "other visual representation" and "whether or not made by electronic or mechanical means" — captures AI-generated content. In a Quebec precedent, R v Larouche (2023) — reported by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection as the first Canadian conviction for creating deepfake child sexual abuse material using face-swapping AI — the accused received a sentence that included over three years for the deepfake production charges.

The specific AI tools used and the social media platform where the material was distributed have not been publicly identified. ALERT confirmed that all known victims were provided support services, and the accused was released on conditions including no contact with persons under 16 and restricted internet access (Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams, 2025; CP24, 2025).