A team of researchers, led by Kevin Butler, Ph.D., from the University of Florida’s Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, is raising serious concerns about a troubling development in artificial intelligence: the swift increase in AI-generated sexually explicit images produced without consent.
“There’s a misconception that this kind of content lives on the dark web,” Butler said via Tech Xplore. “In reality, many of these tools are hosted on reputable platforms.”
“These images aren’t just created for amusement,” Butler said. “They’re used to embarrass, humiliate and even extort victims. The mental health toll can be devastating.”
Butler and his colleagues from UF, Georgetown University, and the University of Washington have scrutinized an alarming category of tools that enable users to create realistic nude images from uploaded photos. These tools are disturbingly accessible, requiring minimal skill to operate, costing next to nothing, and existing largely without regulation.
In fact, these platforms offer users the ability to swiftly upload an image and make modifications to clothing, body shape, and pose, resulting in the creation of a sexually explicit photo. The speed and ease with which this transformation occurs highlight the powerful capabilities of these tools.
This unchecked proliferation poses significant ethical challenges.
“Anybody can do this,” said Butler, director of the Florida Institute for Cybersecurity Research. “It’s done on the web, often anonymously, and there’s no meaningful enforcement of age or consent.”
“Photoshop requires skill, time and money,” he said. “These AI application websites are fast, cheap—from free to as little as six cents per image—and don’t require any expertise.”
Opinion: This is scary. Not only should the creators of deceptive images be punished, but we must also focus on advanced software that can detect fakes, not with 99 percent accuracy, but with 100 percent accuracy.
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