Nude photos have been sold on the Reddit forum – but not real photos of undressed people. These are images generated by an AI. This is now causing debate.
Under the heading “F19 Feeling pretty today” (Eng. “Feel pretty today”) you can find the supposed image of a woman on Reddit. Apparently, “Claudia” is a young brunette with big gray-green eyes, medium-length dark hair and very flawless skin, who poses for the selfie in what could be a living room. Only: Claudia is not a real person. The image was generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) and then, like many others, sold on the Reddit platform. In the meantime, the corresponding account has been reported – but the photos are still available. And there’s plenty to talk about, too.
Naked pics of KI on Reddit
The foundation stone for this story was actually laid by a project by two computer science students. They had started an AI program together called “Stable Diffusion”. The aim was to generate images that appeared as realistic as possible with the help of an AI and on the basis of text input – apparently with success.
Because like the two dem Rolling Stone magazine reported, they actually made just over $100 from nude photos of “Claudia.” The Reddit Account was probably meant “as a joke”. “We honestly didn’t think it would be that popular,” the pair said. In addition to “appeal”, criticism of the procedure is also loud.
Discussion about AI nude pictures
Part of the rekindled discussion in the AI-generated imagery debate is that AI needs images of real people to train—people who likely haven’t explicitly consented to this use. In addition, AI can also be used to change images of real people even more realistically than with programs such as Photoshop. Megastar Keanu Reeves, for example, has a fictional Instagram account where the actor seems to be doing all sorts of funny things. This content is also not real.
Another current example is provided by the so-called virtual influencers. The fictitious “Imma” is followed by 400,000 accounts on Instagram. From their profile description and above all from their videos, it can be seen that they are an AI-generated person. However, this is less clear in the pictures. In addition, they often feature real people who appear to be interacting with the AI-generated person.
“Imma” advertises, apparently sharing her thoughts and feelings with her followers. One post reads: “Isn’t it difficult for someone to know the real me? Do my sincere feelings reach anyone? I want you to understand the real me…” The company behind the account creates a complete story around the virtual young woman with the pink bob. She goes to events, has arguments with her brother, has a job.
According to media expert Oliver Zöllner from the Stuttgart Institute for Digital Ethics, a problem with this type of representation and emotionality is often the lack of transparency. How the programs behind it work is not always clear. It is also not immediately apparent to everyone that these are not real people, Zöllner told the dpa news agency. According to the expert, the rather opaque “business model of data acquisition and exploitation” should not be neglected either. In the case of the AI nude photos on Reddit, the buyers were apparently unaware that the images were not of real people.
AI could change the porn industry
Another issue with AI nudes is often linked to the porn industry, where “deepfakes” are more prevalent. It uses AI to insert a person’s face into pornographic content without their consent. The victims are mostly women. But nude pictures of people that are completely AI-generated could also trigger a change. The two students who created the fictitious “Claudia” also see it that way. “The person who buys the pictures is happy with the result since they searched for porn (…). We never said they were pictures of a real person and buyers never really asked for them. They just accepted it.”
It’s different now. Ever since Claudia’s posts were reported, her posts have been flagged accordingly. A moderator of the forum also explicitly points out that such AI-generated content would not violate the rules of the platform. And not everyone is bothered by the AI nude photos.
In fact, there are now even communities explicitly for pornographic content from AIs. This offers the advantage, among other things, that the personal preferences of the user can be served differently. This can be seen in the example of “Claudia”. The text input here was: “With no makeup, black hair, shoulder length hair, plain background, straight hair, bangs”. More was not necessary for the creation of a corresponding image.