A South Lyon man has been charged with six felony counts after authorities allegedly found tens of thousands of child porn images on his devices.
The case came to light after the suspect’s wife reported to authorities that she found the illicit images on his computer, according to Oakland County Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald.
The suspect, 35-year-old Austin McCarty, allegedly told his wife he had used an AI tool to generate sexually explicit images of children, McDonald said in a press release.
After the man’s wife reported the incident in January 2025, police seized his electronics. During a yearlong examination of McCarty’s devices, Oakland County Sheriff’s officers allegedly found more than 40,000 images of child sexually abusive material, McDonald said.
“Even as technology changes, the laws against child sexually abusive material remain constant,” McDonald said in a statement. “It doesn’t matter if images are created with AI or a camera; they represent the abuse of children. We will hold accountable anyone who would harm and sexually exploit children, regardless of the technology they use.”
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McCarty has been charged with three counts each of aggravated possession of child sexually abusive material and use of a computer to commit a crime.
Michigan law defines “child sexually abusive material” broadly to include any visual depiction that “is of a child or appears to include a child,” including “computer-generated images.”
Aggravated possession of child sexually abusive material is punishable by up to 10 years in prison per count while using a computer to commit a crime is punishable by up to 10-20 years incarceration per count.
Online court records do not list an attorney for McCarty and his next court appearance has not been scheduled.
The charges come just days after a former Coldwater teacher was charged with 10 criminal counts for allegedly using AI to create nude images of students at the middle school where he taught woodshop.
mreinhart@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: AI child porn found on Michigan man’s computer by wife: Prosecutor
