In a warning circulated this week, the FBI said it has recently observed an increase in blackmail victims who say they have been targeted using AI to edit otherwise normal images, taken from online posts, personal messages or video chats, into fake versions.
Spanish police once arrested a programmer who used AI to create fake child pornography images. Photo: Daily Mail
“The images are then sent directly to victims by the perpetrators for blackmail or sexual harassment. Once distributed, victims may face significant challenges in preventing the continued sharing of the manipulated content, as well as removing it from the internet,” the warning said.
The bureau said the images appeared "true to life", while also noting that children had also been targeted in some cases.
In February, police in Spain arrested a computer programmer who used AI to create horrific child abuse images in what is believed to be one of the first arrests of its kind.
The FBI did not go into detail about the AI programs used to create sexual images, but noted that technological advances are "continually improving the quality, customization, and accessibility of AI-powered content creation."
Editing regular photos to create erotic images is almost as old as photography itself, but the recent explosion of open-source AI tools has made the process easier than ever.
Fake photos or videos are often indistinguishable from real-life versions, and several websites and social networks dedicated to creating and exchanging AI-powered sexual images have even emerged in recent years.
This is considered one of a series of risks that artificial intelligence can pose to society, as experts have recently worried and warned about.
Hoang Anh (according to Daily Mail, Reuters)
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