Eastern Montana Man Arrested After Authorities Find AI-Edited Child Abuse Images

A Carter County man is facing serious charges this week after Montana authorities say he used artificial intelligence to create explicit content of a child.

According to the Montana Attorney General’s Office, 31-year-old Shy Herbert McCutchan of Alzada has been charged with three felony counts of sexual abuse of children (CSAM). Investigators say McCutchan not only possessed disturbing images and videos involving kids under 12, but also allegedly used AI to manipulate photos pulled from a Montana parent’s public social media page.

The case started when the National Center for Missing and Endangered Children sent cyber tips to authorities, flagging that questionable material had been uploaded from McCutchan’s devices to a cloud backup. Carter County deputies and the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation arrested the man last Thursday (8/21).

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This is disturbing stuff.

Law enforcement notes that the use of AI to digitally alter children’s images from social media is an ugly new twist that predators are exploiting. Montana lawmakers anticipated this issue earlier this year, passing House Bill 82. The law now makes it crystal clear: if you use AI to create child exploitation material, you’ll be prosecuted like any other sex predator.

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McCutchan is currently being held on a $250,000 bond set by Judge Rennie Wittman. He’s due in court on September 9 for arraignment. Each felony charge carries a potential 100-year prison sentence.

The case is being handled by Assistant Attorneys General Daniel Guzynski and Stephanie Robles, with the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit and Carter County Sheriff’s Office leading the investigation.