By Kyle Teixeira
Artificial intelligence was created for machines to learn and solve complex tasks created by humans. AI has given the world many benefits like filtering out spam in our email or opening your phone with Face ID, but there have been just as many issues that allow people to do unethical and sometimes illegal things. Deepfakes are one of the AI inventions that were first created for entertainment purposes, yet soon turned sour at the hands of bad individuals.
Deepfake pornography can use deep learning algorithms that are trained to remove clothes from images of women and men and replace them with images of naked body parts. Deepfake porn is a major privacy issue that has currently affected those with high amounts of following including U.S. representative for New York’s 14th congressional district Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She has spoken out against AI porn, as she is one of the many victims of these non-consensual images and videos.
This is increasingly putting “everyday people” at risk of “being targeted by this kind of reputational, sexual violence that is at its core exploitative” said Ocasio-Cortez. There is currently very little that has been done to counteract this new form of sexual abuse. AOC is one of the leading government officials introducing the Defiance Act, which is a piece of legislation that would make the distribution of AI porn of non-consenting individuals illegal, as mentioned in the video below.
Popular musician Taylor Swift is another celebrity who was a victim at the hands of Deepfake AI. Artificially generated images of Swift went viral on Twitter (X) over a month ago and have sparked a discussion of putting together federal legislation that regulates Deepfakes. The posts of Swift received more than 45 million views, 24,000 reposts, and hundreds of thousands of likes in less than 17 hours. This type of abuse needs to be taken more seriously as these victims have to watch their perpetrators get little to no repercussions. The account that posted these explicitly altered pictures of Swift only received a suspension for violating the Twitter (X) community guidelines.
Deepfakes have not only caused issues for celebrities. A 27-year-old woman from California faced harassment after a man she rejected created a video of him and her doing explicit things. “This whole experience was really traumatizing, he deserves to face at least a fraction of accountability for what he did to me,” said the woman who decided to stay anonymous to prevent further harassment. This just proves that anyone can be a victim and how easy it is for someone to use this technology.
It only takes a few images for someone to use this form of AI technology. It is now easier than ever to make a Deepfake of someone and Congress must find a way to hold those accountable that misuse this software. While the U.S. is still taking its time to get the Defiance Act through the House and Senate, Australia has recently introduced a ban on the sharing of non-consensual Deepfake pornography.
Deepfakes have created a massive privacy issue that currently yields no punishment for those who abuse it. This is a form of sexual harassment and abuse that should be treated just as such. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus addressed the media on the introduction of the new bill that will carry a six-year jail sentence for anyone caught distributing Deepfake pornography. “We know it overwhelmingly affects women and girls who are the target of this kind of deeply offensive and harmful behavior. It can inflict deep, long-lasting harm on victims,” Mr. Dreyfus said.
As the days go by, artificial intelligence continues to learn and expand. Legislation has to be able to keep up and prevent this sort of technology from being able to be misused. We, as citizens, must also show our support in fighting back against these sorts of privacy issues and make sure Congress is doing what is right in protecting the people. Deepfake pornography isn’t just an invasion of privacy, but also a form of sexual harassment that can cause deep emotional scaring on any of its victims.