Prominent Arkansas photographer charged for creating deepfake child porn

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — A prominent Bentonville photographer has been arrested and charged with over 200 counts of possessing child sex abuse material and using artificial intelligence to generate it.

Police believe photographer Russell Bloodworth III used AI to turn photos of his juvenile clients into child sex abuse material.

According to an affidavit, Bentonville police received a cyber tip on June 8 from X, formerly Twitter, that led them to Bloodworth. The detective following up on the tip discovered photos of a prepubescent female posing for a professional photography shoot that had been altered using Grok AI with prompts to remove her clothing. A revealed the original photos had been taken by Russell Bloodworth for an area school where he taught a summer class.

On June 10, police executed a warrant at Bloodworth's , unlocked his phone, and discovered 1,700 images and videos of little girls in various sexual poses and states of undress, performing sexual acts. Some were clearly AI. Others appeared real. Bloodworth was immediately arrested.

The scale of Bloodworth's suspected crimes may be extensive. His clients included many Northwest Arkansas families, businesses, schools, and even the City of Bentonville itself. Police believe many children were victimized.

"We've been told by law enforcement literally thousands of images and I think it's already been reported that he was considered one of the premier photographers, especially in the northern part of the state, the Northwest part of the state. He would attend school events, everything from preschool up through high school. He would attend camps. He would attend private events, birthday parties..." Derek Potts, managing partner of Potts Law Firm, said.

The Potts Law Firm represents one family who discovered their daughter was a victim. Many families—former clients of Bloodworth's—have reached out to police to learn if their children's likenesses were used in obscene material.

"They've been reaching out to law enforcement saying, 'Has my child been identified?' And so, we've talked to other families that once they inquired were in fact told, 'Yes, we did. After looking through the materials, we did identify your child.' So, they're still going through the process, and there are apparently, unfortunately, many children victimized here. We're aware of victims one to two years old," Potts told KATV.

Bloodworth has been charged with 100 counts of possessing child pornography and 100 counts of unlawful creation of deepfake visual material. The latter charge is a new offense created by a brand-new Arkansas law—Act 827—which criminalizes the creation of pornographic AI images of individuals without their consent. State lawmakers also recently added AI-specific language to existing law criminalizing CSAM.

"It was designed to make sure that the laws were keeping pace with technology. And the most important thing was that these predatory monsters were not able to hide behind a loophole in technology so that they could exploit the most vulnerable people in our population," State Rep. Ryan Rose, R-District 48 and co-sponsor of Act 827, told KATV.

But how was Grok, a mainstream AI model by social media giant X, able to be used to create child pornography? There is growing outcry—and litigation—to address the issue.

"There has to be some guardrails. There has to be protection so that criminal activity doesn't happen. This is like any other business, right? You can't allow criminal activity to be facilitated through your business," Potts said.

The Potts Law Firm said that, on behalf of the family it represents and perhaps other victims, it intends to file a lawsuit against Grok AI on Thursday.

Bloodworth has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and is out on bond. The court has ordered him not to have with minors and to wear an ankle monitor.