16 AI “undressing” websites sued for creating deepfaked nude images | The sites were visited 200 million times during the first six months of 2024
https://www.techspot.com/news/104304-san-francisco-sues-16-ai-powered-undressing-websites.html
16 AI “undressing” websites sued for creating deepfaked nude images | The sites were visited 200 million times during the first six months of 2024
https://www.techspot.com/news/104304-san-francisco-sues-16-ai-powered-undressing-websites.html
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From the article: One of the most sinister trends to come from the advancement of AI image generation in recent years is the rise of websites and apps that can “undress” women and girls. Now, The San Francisco City Attorney’s office is suing 16 of these most-visited sites with the aim of shutting them down.
The suit was the idea of Yvonne Meré, chief deputy city attorney in San Francisco, who had read about boys using “nudification” apps to turn photos of their fully clothed female classmates into deepfake pornography. As the mother of a 16-year-old girl, Meré wanted to do something about the issue, so rallied her co-workers to craft a lawsuit aimed at shutting down 16 of the most popular unclothing websites, writes the New York Times.
The [complaint](https://www.sfcityattorney.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Complaint_Final_Redacted.pdf), which has been published with the websites’ names redacted, states that the sites were collectively visited 200 million times during the first six months of 2024. One of these undressing sites advertises: “Imagine wasting time taking her out on dates, when you can just use [the redacted website] to get her nudes.”
City Attorney David Chiu said that the sites’ AI models have been trained using real pornography and images depicting child abuse to create the deepfakes. He added that once the images were circulating, it was almost impossible to tell which website had created them.
The suit argues that the sites violate state and federal revenge pornography laws, state and federal child pornography laws, and the California Unfair Competition Law.
What do the laws regarding this look like?
On one hand, I can understand why people do not want these types of websites to exist. On the other hand, where do we draw the line for freedom of expression and where is the line in terms of how advanced something must be?
Is it illegal for a boy in second grade to cut out the face of a celebrity in a magazine and glue it onto the body of a lingerie model in another magazine? Would it be illegal to do the same using Photoshop? Would it be illegal to do it using a generative AI model? Where do we draw the line and why?
Give me samples of the websites. I need to analyse the problem.
You sue them and another 100 will show up. The models will become so easy to access and set up.
And they will move to less regulated countries, generate throwaway sites that constantly change etc.
They are going after this with last-century strategies.
What an absolute and utter coincidence that an app that disproportionately damages, humiliates and objectifies women and not men is being met with a bunch of lame jokes and weak defences rather than any actual objections. How utterly surprising :/
Maybe read about the impact this shit has on its victims, dudes; or just acknowledge you don’t give a rat’s ass that shit like this can ruin women’s lives.
I’m a little curious how exactly this breaks the mentioned laws because, at a glance, it seems like a bit of a stretch.
Celebrity fake nude websites have existed for decades. There are probably thousands of them. Those fappening sites, where actually celebrity phones were hacked from the cloud, from a few years ago are still up. So it makes me wonder if any lawsuit is going to have any effect at all.
I would think that arrests for the distribution of child pornography would have to be used in these cases, and then we are talking about case by case trials in court. So a very slow process. But trying to remove the website that created the tool that allowed the students to do this, may be a lost cause.