Who among us hasn't had a little fun making or consuming AI-generated media? I'd be lying if I told you I didn't find a viral AI-generated image of Pope Francis wearing a trendy looking white puffer coat mildly entertaining.
But like most technologies, the fun phase can only last for so long before it's exploited to harm others.
As publicly available AI programs have become more advanced, their ability to create hyper-realistic content of just about anything or anyone has as well. That, unfortunately, includes pornographic images and videos of people without their consent.
For years, some high school students across the world, from New Jersey to Spain, have reported their faces were manipulated by AI and shared online by classmates, Samantha Murphy Kelly wrote. Meanwhile, a young well-known female Twitch streamer discovered her likeness was being used in a fake, explicit pornographic video that spread quickly throughout the gaming community.
But it took Taylor Swift becoming a victim of AI-generated porn for masses of people to demand more guardrails to stop this from happening and being shared across social media platforms. Experts have previously told CNN that's next to impossible.
But, thankfully, that's not stopping everyone from at least trying.
Across the pond
On Tuesday, the UK justice department announced a new draft law that would criminally punish anyone in England of Wales who creates a pornographic image or video of another adult without their consent. They could also face an unlimited fine.
As CNN's Anna Cooban notes, it is already illegal in England and Wales to share explicit deepfakes without the subject's consent, with perpetrators facing jail time. As is creating or sharing any kind of pornographic content of children. (Deepfakes are images or videos that have been manipulated, often using AI, to give the impression that someone has done or said something that they have not.)
Under the draft law, such content would include both pornographic images and nude deepfakes, whether or not the subject is engaging in erotic behavior.
Domestic action
The US appears to be further away from passing a federal law that criminalizes sharing or creating AI-generated porn. Not long after Swift's images were shared, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a draft civil law that, if passed, will allow the victims of sexually explicit deepfakes to sue the people who create and share such content without their consent.
There have been efforts at the state level to make it a criminal offense. For instance, last month Indiana's governor signed a new law that builds upon its existing revenge porn laws — that is, where sexually explicit content is shared without someone's consent — to include AI-generated porn.
