Man gets 6 months for attempted skirt-filming, used AI for remorse letter

A man in Taiwan has been sentenced to six months in prison for attempting to film a woman's skirt, a crime compounded by his use of artificial intelligence to craft a more remorseful letter to the court.

The incident occurred last July when the man, identified by the surname Fan, approached a woman in Keelung and attempted to use his iPhone to film under her skirt. The victim noticed the suspicious behavior and alerted the police. Surveillance footage helped authorities identify and apprehend Fan.

During the court proceedings, Fan claimed he was influenced by a mental illness and presented a diagnostic certificate. He also submitted a letter of remorse, which investigators later discovered was largely generated by an AI program. In his prompts to the AI, Fan specifically requested it to "help me write a more regretful one."

In addition to the AI-assisted letter, the court found evidence on Fan's phone indicating multiple instances of attempting to film others. He had also searched online for information regarding the ease of obtaining psychiatric evaluations. Considering these factors, including his poor attitude after the offense and attempts to use AI to influence sentencing, the judge ruled that Fan's actions constituted attempted voyeurism. He was sentenced to six months in prison, with the option to pay a fine of 180,000 New Taiwan dollars.