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Fiona Sun

Sammy Heung

Hong Kong’s oldest university has issued a warning letter to a male law student accused of making pornographic images of fellow classmates and other women by using artificial intelligence (AI).
The University of Hong Kong said on Saturday that it was aware of the accusations, adding the student in question had received a warning letter and was asked to issue a formal apology to the affected classmates.
“The university has kept in communication with the affected students and with the consideration of taking care of their well-being, the university has taken various steps, including class adjustments, to address their needs,” it said.
“As for the student engaged in the alleged behaviour, the university has already issued him a warning letter and demanded a formal apology from him to his affected peers.”
The university said it “deeply understood” the concerns raised and would further review the case, as well as take further actions when appropriate to ensure “a safe and respectful learning environment”.
Its statement came hours after three people, who claimed to be among the victims, levelled accusations against the law student referred to as “X’ in social media posts on Saturday, alleging the institution had not done enough to hold the man accountable.
They said a friend of X discovered pornographic images of multiple women on his personal laptop in mid-February, and upon questioning, X admitted he had used photos of the victims, mainly screenshots from social media, as material to generate pornographic images using free online AI software.
The more than 700 images were organised into folders named after the 20 to 30 victims, including X’s friends, university classmates, seniors, and former primary school classmates and secondary school teachers, they claimed.
“Some victims were close friends with X, others were mere acquaintances and some had only met X once. It is understood that none of the victims authorised X’s actions,” they said.

According to the posts, some victims contacted the university and requested follow-up actions in mid-March. They sought to have the matter reviewed by the disciplinary committee, citing “ragging”, which the university defines as an offence whereby a student humiliates or ridicules another student.
They requested appropriate disciplinary measures to hold X accountable for what they said amounted to sexual violence, according to the post.
The university engaged with the victims in late March to learn about the incident, with attendees including two university staff members, two victims and X’s friend as the witness, the complainants said.
But they said a university staff member cited legal advice suggesting X’s actions were not likely to have constituted an offence, including “ragging”, which the disciplinary committee could address, making it difficult to refer the case to the relevant department.
A university staff member was said to have contacted one of the victims via email in mid-April, informing her that a warning letter had been filed. The staff member also forwarded an apology letter written by X.
“The apology letter was brief (approximately 60 words), and most victims found it insincere, expressing further dissatisfaction. Most victims also felt that the university’s response was insufficient in holding X accountable,” they said.
They also accused the university of taking no action for an extended period of time after victims requested to be separated from X in classes.
“Only before the final tutorial session of the semester did the university, citing the ‘wide distribution of victims across tutorial groups’, invite two victims to attend alternative sessions,” they said.
“However, due to the university’s inaction in the preceding weeks, victims had been forced to share the same classroom with X at least four times, causing unnecessary psychological distress.”
They added that current legislation only regulated the non-consensual distribution of AI-generated intimate images, while the act of generating such images itself was not criminalised.
“As a result, victims are unable to seek punishment for X through Hong Kong’s criminal justice system,” they said.


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Hong Kong

Education

Law and Crime

But victims dissatisfied that university fails to find student had committed any crime


But victims dissatisfied that university fails to find student had committed any crime.


Crime in Hong Kong

The University of Hong Kong

University of Hong Kong warns student over AI-generated porn pics of classmates

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But victims dissatisfied that university fails to find student had committed any crime