And the free AI porn that could threaten sexual consent. The number of deep-fakes - AI generated sexual content-is 540% higher than in a report from the Internet Watch Foundation just one year ago. The study argues that the sudden surge is one of the reasons why non-consensual adult materials are spread easily, which triggers ethical and legal debates.
It is when participants agree to sexual activity that they must be able to take part in, otherwise it becomes rape. However, this becomes complicated with AI-generated porn where the individuals have not given consent to be featured in such videos. One example the FBI pointed to is of AI-generated porn being used in blackmail, with some people even said to have been forced into cooperating due to altered images.
It has severe effects on mental health. AI porn victims feel violated and traumatized Victims of this same form of harassment are said to experience significant psychological problems, including anxiety and depression, according to a study from the Journal of Interpersonal Violence. RELATED: Why we need an ethics of AI porn - Now more than ever
The legal frameworks of the world have trouble catching up to these. Although laws against financial penalty have been put into place in certain parts of the country, just as challenging is enforcing such a law. To date, just 46 states have enacted laws that explicitly address revenge porn - and not a single comprehensive law has been implemented by the federal government. This chasm is what perpetrators can slide through to circumnavigate the no-rules app trail and nearly outright get away with it.
Industry responses vary. There are policies on many social media services and tech companies to limit the spread of AI porn, but enforcement has been hit or miss. AI-generated sexual content is forbidden under Facebook's policy, yet the platform deleted just 38% of all reported cases during one quarter. Such inconsistency is one reason why we need more powerful and comparable policies across platforms.
A notable example is when a tech CEO was made the subject of public outrage for using artificial intelligence (AI) to create near-nude photos of coworkers. The incident lead to broader discussions of the responsibilities tech companies bear and ethical use of AI. This led to the CEO resigning, stating - for the first time in tech industry history - that a company must be accountable when its employees are not living up to standards.
It cannot be stressed enough how important education and public awareness are in order to fight the dark sides of AI porn. Programs to teach things like digital literacy and consent will be important for people to understand the repercussions of AI-created content. Cyber Civil Rights Initiative provides resources and support for victims, as well education about consent and the dangers of AI porn
AI porn and sexual consent are correlative-it is now crucial that we enact more effective laws, tougher enforcement measures, and further public awareness. Open source AI pornography confronts us with a number of difficult problems and we will need to engage on several fronts in order to drive the technology towards not undermining basic tenets of autonomy, consent etc.
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