San Francisco’s City Attorney has initiated legal action against the operators of 16 websites that facilitate the creation of AI-generated nude images of women and young girls.
On August 15, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced a lawsuit targeting the owners of these popular sites, which allow users to “undress” individuals in photos, creating “nonconsensual nude images of women and girls.”
The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court, identifies the defendants as individuals and companies based in Los Angeles, New Mexico, the UK, and Estonia, who are accused of breaching California and federal laws related to deepfake pornography, revenge porn, and child sexual abuse material.
The complaint reveals that these sites have amassed 200 million visits within the first half of the year. One site claimed to enable users to “see anyone naked,” while another encouraged users to bypass dating and use the site for obtaining nudes.
Our lawsuit alleges the website owners and operators violate state and federal laws prohibiting deepfake pornography, revenge pornography, and child pornography.
— SF City Attorney (@SFCityAttorney) August 15, 2024
According to Chiu’s office, the AI models employed by these websites are trained on explicit and abusive material, enabling users to generate realistic pornographic images of their targets. While some sites restrict their content to adults, others permit the creation of images involving children.
Chiu’s office noted that the resulting images are “virtually indistinguishable” from real ones and have been used to “extort, bully, threaten, and humiliate women and girls,” many of whom cannot control these fabricated images once produced.
In February, AI-generated nudes of 16 eighth-grade students were circulated at a California middle school. Similarly, in June, Victoria Police in Australia arrested a teenager for allegedly distributing 50 images of high school students.
Chiu expressed his deep concern, stating, “This investigation has exposed the darkest parts of the internet, and I am deeply disturbed by the exploitation endured by these women and girls.”
