Apps and websites that use artificial intelligence to undress women in photos are soaring in popularity, according to researchers.
In September alone, 24 million people visited undressing websites, according to the social network analysis company Graphika.
Many of these undressing, or “nudify,” services use popular social networks for marketing, according to Graphika. For instance, since the beginning of this year, the number of links advertising undressing apps increased more than 2,400% on social media, including on X and Reddit, the researchers said. The services use AI to recreate an image so that the person is nude. Many of the services only work on women.
These apps are part of a worrying trend of non-consensual pornography being developed and distributed because of advances in artificial intelligence — a type of fabricated media known as deepfake pornography. Its proliferation runs into serious legal and ethical hurdles, as the images are often taken from social media and distributed without the consent, control or knowledge of the subject.
Ubiquity isn’t going to make people stop caring about being sexually violated. It would just be an epidemic of sexual violation.
The reality of what you’re suggesting is just going to end up with every girl and woman online having to grapple that every selfie they post is likely to get digitally undressed, while men would unlikely be so affected. There’s absolutely no reason to normalize nonconsensual nudes and pornography. If people want to expose themselves, it should be on their terms.
Just because AI makes it easy doesn’t give you the right. If you absolutely must undress and pornify people with AI, keep the images to yourself and don’t sexually violate people online by overtly and graphically objectifying their bodies.