A 48-year-old man has been convicted and fined €400 at Tralee District Court, after he pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of child pornographic material generated using artificial intelligence (AI).In one of the images a downloaded AI app had been used to digitally undress an image of a teenage girl.Stephen Buckley (48) of Hunter’s Wood, Ballyseedy, Tralee, Co Kerry, pleaded guilty to a single charge of possessing child pornography, namely four photographic images created using AI and three animé videos depicting sexual acts with teenagers on February 2nd, 2024. The defendant pleaded guilty to the single charge at a previous sitting of Tralee District Court.The charge is contrary to Section 6 (1) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, 1998. He is believed to be the first person in the country to be convicted of possession of AI-generated child pornographic material.Two years ago, the US Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerted detectives in the Garda Online Exploitation Unit in Dublin to suspicious activity on his phone, the court heard previously.Gardaí in Tralee secured a warrant and searched Buckley’s home in February 2024. They spoke to him and seized a number of phones.An examination of the phones revealed child sex abuse images, including one of a young girl that had been digitally manipulated using an app.Defence solicitor Pat Mann told the court in Tralee on Wednesday that Buckley had no previous convictions. The solicitor said the matter had had a devastating effect on his client.Mann asked the court to deal with the case without recording a criminal conviction against his client. Buckley had co-operated “completely” and had attended dozens of counselling sessions to address his issues, the solicitor said.However, Judge David Waters described the offence as serious and said it was appropriate to record a conviction. He said the fact that the material was downloaded showed there was an element of deliberation and premeditation involved.He said the portrayal of the presence of the material on Buckley’s phone as “almost accidental” didn’t stand up.He convicted Buckley on the charge of possession of child pornography and fined him €400. Recognisances were fixed in the event of an appeal.