Explained: What are deep nudes?
The term “Deepnudes,” also referred to as “AI erotica” and “AI nude,” are technological tools that use artificial intelligence (AI) to generate erotic elements from images or photos or to remove clothing. Deepnudes originally came into existence in June 2019 when the first Deep Nude app was created, allowing users to upload clothed photos of ladies and generate their nude images. It was taken down a while later due to ethical concerns and a violation of privacy. In recent years, there have been subsequent developments of fully functional deep nude AI generator tools to help manipulate images, typically by removing clothing from photos of people to create non-consensual explicit images.
Statistics Reports
A Deepnudes detection company known as Sensity made a publication about its research on reports regarding the misuse of Deepnudes technology. According to research, between April and June 2020, the amount of phony nude photos on Telegram increased by 198%. This figure aligns with the reports that revenge porn was on the rise during the lockdown, with intimate image abuse cases rising by 22% this year. Sensity addressed the “broader threat” in its report, stating that “either public or private channels beyond Telegram, individuals”stripped’ images can be shared as part of public shaming or extortion-based attacks.” The real figure is probably much higher, even though Sensity calculates that the bot has targeted over 104,000 women.
Advantages of Deep Nudes Technology
The unethical nature of Deep Nudes technology, which has faced criticism in recent times, has not gone unnoticed, but the truth is that there’s more than meets the eye to Deep Nudes technology. This technology could serve a purpose for a good reason and be of advantages in some areas:
- Understanding Al PotentialÂ
- Understanding Al Potential: The innovative design of Deepnude technology allows for further research into capitalizing on ethical uses of artificial intelligence in medical sectors and art. AI can be used to advance accuracy in interpreting medical images and make enhanced diagnostics on medical images to treat patients. Also, the Deepnude AI potential can be exploited by art curators and experts in nude arts to help restore damaged artwork by filling in missing parts.
- Learning and AwarenessÂ
Learning and Awareness: The criticism about the negative effects and ethical violation of Deepnude technology has brought about societal sensitization amongst youths to enlighten them about the ethical implications of AI technology and the limit to how far it can be used.
Disadvantages of Deep Nudes Technology
There are various disadvantages to Deepnudes technology, and this is the major reason why the public keeps clamoring about its existence in the first place. Here are some disadvantages:
- Privacy Violations: Deepnudes tools or apps can be used to create revenge porn and generate any lady’s nude without her consent, hence violating her privacy which is unethical.
- Psychological Effects: Those who have fallen victim to the negative non-consensual effect of Deepnude by having their nudes generated get stigmatized and traumatized.
- Harassment and Malicious Use: Some people use deep nudes generators to create nude content to blackmail, threaten victims, and sometimes use it against political aspirants to hinder them from attaining political positions.
Technological Measures to Mitigate Ethical Issues
One major reason technology has brought human evolution this far is its ability to solve problems and provide countermeasures to the misuse of technological innovations. Likewise, some countermeasures can also be implemented and capitalized on to ensure consent and privacy, hence curbing the excesses and misuse of Deepnudes that cause ethical concerns.
- Development of Detection Technology and Watermarks: Designing AI-based detection tools to help analyze manipulated content will be a crucial step to mitigate ethical issues and tackle harassment caused by the misuse of the Deepnudes tools. Moreover, a strict law should be enforced on Deepnudes developers to incorporate watermarks on their platforms so they can be held accountable for any misuse of their nude generator.
- Innovation for Consent Verification: This is where the immutable power of blockchain technology comes into play. Integrating blockchain technology into platforms offers a means to establish records of consent for image usage. To guarantee that approved and agreed-upon images are shared, it is important to have a system in place that can trace any modifications or misuse back to the source.Â
- Innovation of Privacy Enhancing Technology: Creating platforms that handle and confirm consent can give people the ability to oversee how their images are used. These platforms offer records and verification procedures to ensure that everyone involved has given their consent, hence regulating ethical issues to the barest minimum.Â
Food for Thought
No matter how Deepnudes technology developers try to pitch the advantages of the nude generator tools, the fact remains that the wrong people have abused it and have done more harm than good by violating privacies without their consent. As we know, consent is highly applicable in everyday life, and deep nude tools do not hold the consent principle in high esteem. The integration of the technological measures will help identify and curb the misuse of deep nude technology, hence helping to build a safer and ethical society and promoting a respectable culture.
