AI Porn & Deepfakes: Harm, Ethics, and the Legal Void 

Introduction 

The porn industry has always thrived on fantasy. The rise of deepfake porn has made these porn fantasies a reality at a dangerous cost.

More than 90% of deepfake video content is pornographic. The platforms have reported a 1,530% increase in deepfake porn videos within one year.

Almost 98% of AI porn videos online depict non-consensual sexual content, and the majority of them victimize women.

Read on to find out the alarming proliferation of AI-generated porn and its harmful effects.

What is Deepfake Porn? 

Deepfake porn refers to the sexually explicit imagery created using AI. In such content, a person’s likeness (face or body) is swapped to generate human figures in graphic scenes. 

Such AI porn video is created without the individual’s consent and knowledge. They also have a malicious intent to defame and humiliate the person.

Modern deepfake AI videos are not only realistic. Still, they can be easily created with free image generators and nude filter Apps. So, everyday images and videos of women or even children can be digitally manipulated to create AI porn video.

Major deepfake porn techniques are – 

1. Face swapping – Using AI to map one face over to another body.
2. Nude generation – Digitally altering a fully clothed image into a naked one.
3. Facial Manipulation – Altering specific facial features or expressions.
4. Face Synthesis – Generating an entirely new face.
5. Stable Diffusion – Creating synthetic images from scratch based on text prompts. 

Deepfake porn often targets celebrities such as Emma Watson, Taylor Swift etc. But, recently, there was an alarming case where a teenager’s 15-second Instagram story was used to create a deepfake porn clip. 

The Psychological & Emotional Impact on Victims 

The humiliation of seeing one’s face in a deepfake porn image or video can be as traumatizing as an actual assault. For the victims, the violation, shame, and anxiety of deepfake porn feel similar to that of a real sexual assault.

1. Minors are more vulnerable to bullying, social stigma, and harassment by peers resulting from deepfake images. 
2. The victims often feel a deep violation of dignity, intrusion, and assault on their autonomy when their image is used without their consent in pornography.
3. The emotional trauma and stress of deepfake porn can result in depression, anxiety, insomnia, and fear.
4. Victims have shared experiencing lifelong damage to their reputation, dignity, employability, and interpersonal relationships.
5. The violation of privacy breaks the trust of victims, and they do not feel safe on the internet and social media afterward.
6. Limited legal recourse creates frustration as the victim’s videos keep resurfacing on clandestine networks even after multiple takedowns. 

How AI Porn Fuels Exploitation and Objectification

The majority of deepfake pornography is non-consensual and violates the autonomy of the victims. 

Deepfake is categorized as image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), where a person is violated sexually by exploiting their likeness. Deepfake and AI porn is also disproportionately used to abuse, exploit, and silence women.

The encrypted and private online spaces where AI porn is shared are characterized by toxic attitudes toward women. The dehumanizing and degrading acts portrayed in the content can normalize the abuse of women. 

Sexualization of minors also promotes emotional detachment and desensitization to the harmful content. Exposure to deepfake porn amplifies the distorted perceptions about sex and intimacy, leading to an increased risk of sexual violence in real life.

Deepfake videos and images are also used as tools for blackmail and extortion. In this increasing trend of ‘sextortion,’ the perpetrator threatens to create or share AI-generated images unless the victims pay. Even minors are frequently targeted, with their photos grabbed from social media. 

The Legal Grey Area: Why Laws Are Failing 

When it comes to deepfake porn, there are no specific laws that prescribe a legal recourse. 

Even the existing patchwork of laws falls short in execution, as deepfake porn creators often use anonymous accounts or overseas servers. Law enforcement agencies also do not have the expertise and resources needed for prosecuting AI porn video.

The US has passed the “Take it Down Act,” which aims to combat the spread of non-consensual sexual content online, including AI-generated and deepfake content.

The key provisions of the Act are – 

1. Online platforms must remove the offending content within 48 hours of receiving a valid complaint.
2. Criminal penalties of a prison term of up to 3 years for content involving minors and up to 2 years in case of adults.

But, such laws are facing major enforcement challenges in regulating deepfake porn because – 

1. The Take it Down Act’s scope of coverage focuses on public-facing platforms. There is no provision for private forums and encrypted networks where the content might have been initially shared.
2. The 48-hour window might make it difficult to determine the nuances of consent and authenticity of the content.
3. The Act places the burden of locating the content and submission of takedown requests on the victims. The personal information shared might increase the risk of the victim’s exposure.
4. The Act does not have robust protections to prevent potential abuse by malicious or frivolous takedown requests. So, it raises concerns about over-censorship and infringement on free speech. 
5. Exceptions in the law, such as consensual or educational content, might be exploited as a loophole to evade accountability.

The Future of AI and Adult Content 

AI has transformed how adult content is created and consumed by making even extreme fantasies into a reality. We can also expect the troubling patterns in AI-generated porn to escalate as the technology becomes more sophisticated. 

1. User Generated Content 

The majority of AI porn websites already let users generate and upload custom images and videos on their platforms. 

The synthetic porn content goes beyond simple face swaps or nude image generation. The adult websites now offer fine-grained controls to let the users customize the performers and even create virtual companions. It’s like creating personalized porn from scratch.

2. Ethical and Societal Implications

The synthetic AI performers are not real people. However, using an AI-girl to create sexual stimulation will reinforce attitudes of emotional detachment and objectification.

New AI tools have made creating explicit images as easy as typing text. So, when one can virtually strip and manipulate any person, the ethics and boundaries of consent become more complex. 

3. Beyond Regulation 

AI tools let users create personalized pornographic images, videos, or virtual companions instantly. As the deepfake content pushes the boundaries of what kind of porn is available, the escalation of content and compulsive porn use is likely to reach pandemic proportions. 

So, along with legal and regulatory challenges, we need a public health and community wellbeing approach. We need better social mechanisms that eliminate the stigmatization of victims and support people to quit addictive pornography. 

How to Block porn on any App with BlockP? 

With deepfake and AI-generated porn, it is more important than ever to protect yourself on your phone and computers. BlockP is the best porn blocker for blocking porn on all your digital devices and keeping your family safe. 

BlockP uses state-of-the-art AI to detect and filter adult content in real-time. Here is how to install it and use it to block porn on any App –

1. Download and install BlockP on your phone, either Google Play Store or Apple App Store. BlockP also has a Chrome extension for desktop browsers.
2. After installing, open BlockP and grant permissions to allow a VPN or network filter. This feature lets the App block the explicit content at the network level. 
3. In the BlockP settings enable the main adult-content filter or AI adult blocker to block known adult sites and activate the Safe Search feature on Google. 
4. Set a password to prevent unblocking and uninstalling in moments of temptation. You can entrust this password to your accountability partner.
5. You can also activate the ‘panic switch’ to temporarily disconnect the internet when you feel a strong urge to watch porn.
6. Verify your settings by trying to visit an adult website or searching for explicit content