Concerns about artificial intelligence have moved to the forefront of American discourse at a time when disinformation is already plentiful. AI is everywhere, and ranges from predictive text that anticipates a typer’s next word to deliberately misleading images, videos and memes.
But there’s an even more nefarious use of AI, that of so-called deepfake pornography, which creates sexually explicit images of real people without their consent.
On Thursday, the office of San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu launched what it says is the first-of-its-kind lawsuit against websites that create and distribute nonconsensual porn using AI. Chiu alleges that these sites not only “undress” adults, but also manipulate and create pornographic images of children.
Deepfake porn images have affected celebrities as well, including Gal Gadot, Natalie Portman, Emma Watson, and Scarlett Johansson.
“The proliferation of nonconsensual deepfake pornographic images has exploited real women and girls across the globe,” said a statement …