Spaniards in the small town of Almendralejo are furious after teenage girls found out that their fake naked pictures were circulating on the internet. Artificial intelligence is at the center of this anger yet again.
What Happened: Malicious actors have reportedly used an AI-powered app to create deepfake naked pictures of young girls from a small town in Spain, sparking shock, horror, and anger amongst the town's residents, reported El País.
According to the report, more than 20 girls aged 11 to 17 have been identified as victims of the deepfakes.
The criminals picked pictures of these girls from their social media profiles and used an AI-powered app to make it look like they were naked.
"When I arrived home, one of my daughters said with tremendous disgust ‘look what they’ve done to me’. They’d taken a picture of hers and made it seem as if she were naked. They’ve done it to her and dozens more girls," said Miriam Al Adib, a parent of one of the victims.
Adib and other girls' parents are just as shocked, but some of the victims are so scared that they "won't even leave their home", reported BBC News.
The local police have reportedly identified 10 suspects already – the shocker is that some of these suspects are 13 years old or younger. This worsens matters for the victims since children younger than 14 cannot face criminal charges.
Why It Matters: AI advancements have led to a rapid evolution in the kinds of tasks that people can do. From creating website logos for free to using AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT for free, there are a range of things that AI has enabled.
However, this has also exacerbated the problem of deepfakes. Hollywood actors like Stephen Fry have already expressed their dismay at how AI is being weaponized.
Earlier last week, Fry revealed that his voice from Harry Potter audiobooks was used to create an AI version to say things he has never said before without his consent.
The fact that kids aged 13 or younger could create deepfakes using an app shows how easy it is to weaponize AI.
This also comes at a time when over 160,000 members of the SAG-AFTRA union have been striking against Hollywood studios, wherein one of the concerns is using AI in script writing and using the likeness of actors in the future.
Image – Shutterstock
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