TOKYO – A 25-year-old man has been served a fresh arrest warrant for allegedly creating a computer virus using generative artificial intelligence (AI), the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD)'s cybercrime control division announced on May 28, in what is believed to be the first such case in Japan.
Ryuki Hayashi, an unemployed resident of the Kanagawa Prefecture city of Kawasaki, was served the warrant on suspicion of making electronic or magnetic records containing unauthorized commands.
Hayashi is accused of creating a virus similar to ransomware, which destroys computer data and demands ransom in cryptocurrency, using his home computer and smartphone on March 31, 2023. He has reportedly admitted to the allegations, telling police, “I thought I could do anything by asking AI. I wanted to make easy money.”
Apparently the warrant was served only after an discovering evidence from an unrelated (or semi-related?) arrest? The article didn’t specify if his ransomware worked, but I doubt it did if it was mostly GPT-generated. I guess the intention and confession is enough to make charges stick though. Wouldn’t be surprised if whatever GPT service he used also flagged him as suspicious and led authorities to him.
Japan has a suspiciously high conviction rate though (>99%). They either don’t even go for criminals they are not sure about or there’s some form of tampering going on. Hard to say.