A man stalked a professor for 7 years using AI (3 photos)
He pleaded guilty to seven charges, including possession of child pornography. 
36-year-old James Florence from Plymouth, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to cyberstalking using a chatbot.
Several people, including a minor, suffered from Florence's actions. The longest period, from 2017 to 2024, was spent stalking a woman who works as a university professor. Over the course of a year, she and her husband received about 60 messages, calls, and letters with insults from the stalker. The man also reportedly broke into the professor's home and stole her underwear. 
The stalker also posted the professor's personal information and fake nude photos of her online that he created using AI, encouraged other internet users to harass her, and used AI chatbots to conduct lewd conversations with strangers on her behalf, inviting them to her home using her real address.
According to court documents, Florence instructed the chatbot to respond in a certain way to certain questions from users. For example, the AI version of the professor answered "yes" when asked if she was prone to sexual experiments, and talked about her underwear and sex toys.
As a result, the stalking victim and her husband went to the police and installed surveillance cameras, and the woman began to carry a knife and pepper spray.
Florence agreed to plead guilty to seven charges, including possession of child pornography and stalking a 17-year-old girl.
The US Attorney's Office noted that stalking by electronic means is punishable by up to five years in prison, and possession of child pornography carries a prison sentence of five to 20 years. There is no word on when the verdict will be announced. 
