School IT worker in AI-generated child abuse material shock

A school IT worker was being investigated for stealing information from his colleagues before police made a shocking find on his computer.

A former Sydney high school IT worker created AI-generated child abuse material which was unwittingly discovered by police when they began an investigation into his efforts to steal the personal data of colleagues.

A court on Monday heard the case was believed to be a first for the state after Aaron Pennesi, 29, was convicted and sentenced for possessing child abuse material images which had been produced using artificial intelligence.

Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court heard details of the perverse terms Pennesi used to prompt the program to create the images.

The search terms he used are too graphic to publish.

The court was told that Pennesi reported that he did not have a sexual interest in children, there was no evidence that he had shared the images with anyone and he claimed he was motivated by testing the limits of the software.

Aaron Pennesi was sentenced for deploying malware on school computers and possessing child abuse material. Picture: NewsWire/Nikki Short.

Pennesi’s house of cards came crashing down early last year when he came into the crosshairs of the NSW Police Cybercrime squad when they were alerted to malware on the computers at Forest High School where he worked as an IT administrator.

The court was told that the software captured data from users and downloaded it in zip files to his computer.

He says he deleted the material and never sought to use it for nefarious purposes and when police searched his computer, the information was found in the recycling bin on his hard drive.

Material found on his computer included a school employee’s identification information.

“There was no evidence he did anything with it but the fact he captured it is a significant breach of the person’s privacy,” Magistrate James Gibson said in his sentencing remarks on Monday afternoon.

Aaron Pennesi exited the Downing Centre Local Court on Monday without speaking to media. Picture: Steve Zemek/NewsWire.

When police searched his computer, they found 54 child abuse material images.

The material was not connected to any child at the school.

He pleaded guilty to one count each of possessing child abuse material and unauthorised modification of data to cause impediment.

The court heard he had been suspended without pay by the Department of Education and it was inevitable that he would be sacked, and was now stacking shelves in a supermarket.

His legal team argued his offending was related to his diagnosis for ADHD and autism spectrum disorder, which was now being treated.

Mr Gibson said while the child abuse material did not depict real victims, a stern message needed to be sent to the community.

“Child abuse material is abhorrent with a real child … and in my view artificially generated is equally abhorrent to the community and the message needs to be sent that will not be tolerated,” Mr Gibson said.

Pennesi was facing a maximum of 10 years in jail.

He was convicted and spared jail as he was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order.