A mother and her 14-year-old daughter are advocating for better protections for victims after AI-generated nude images of the teen and other female classmates were circulated at a high school in New Jersey.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, officials are investigating an incident involving a teenage boy who allegedly used artificial intelligence to create and distribute similar images of other students – also teen girls - that attend a high school in suburban Seattle, Washington.

The disturbing cases have put a spotlight yet again on explicit AI-generated material that overwhelmingly harms women and children and is booming online at an unprecedented rate. According to an analysis by independent researcher Genevieve Oh that was shared with The Associated Press, more than 143,000 new deepfake videos were posted online this year, which surpasses every other year combined.

  • DogMuffins
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    7 months ago

    By… checking the age of the person depicted in the image?

      • Basil@lemmings.world
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        7 months ago

        What? But they literally do exist, and they’re hurting from it. Did you even read the post?

      • Nyanix@lemmy.ca
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        7 months ago

        While you’re correct, many of these generators are retaining the source image and only generating masked sections, so the person in the image is still themselves with effectively photoshopped nudity, which would still qualify as child pornography. That is an interesting point that you make though

      • drislands@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        The article is about real children being used as the basis for AI-generated porn. This isn’t about entirely fabricated images.

      • DogMuffins
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        7 months ago

        Of course they exist. If the AI generated image “depicts” a person, a victim in this case, that person “by definition” exists.

        Your argument evaporates when you consider that all digital images are interpreted and encoded by complex mathematical algorithms. All digital images are “fake” by that definition and therefore the people depicted do not exist. Try explaining that to your 9 year old daughter.

              • DogMuffins
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                7 months ago

                This is so tedious. If you have a point, then make it. Stop asking inane questions.

                So do people in images that are purely AI generated exist, or not?

                This question is based on a false premise, as though the technology used to create an image is relevant to what it depicts.

                • If michaelangelo paints the likeness of a model, does the model in the image exist?
                • if a child draws a stick figure likeness of their dad, does the dad in the image exist?
                • if you take a photo on your phone, and it uses complex mathematical algorithms to compress and later render the image, do people in those images exist?
                • if you run a filter over that image on your phone, does that person still exist ?

                Of course in all cases, for all intents and purposes the depicted person exists. You can argue that a painting is just an arrangement of pigments on canvas and you would be correct, but to everyone else its still a picture of a specific person.

                If you use a computer to generate an image that “looks like” a school-mate doing whatever thing, then an argument that the person in the picture does not exist because the image was generated by AI is moot, because for all intent’s and purposes it’s a “picture of” that school mate doing that thing.

                  • DogMuffins
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                    7 months ago

                    For the love of everything holy. This is not how grown ups discuss things. Make your point and stop asking dumb questions.

                    As you well know, no one is directly harmed by the simple act of someone viewing AI generated porn which does not depict a real person.

                    That said, the law in my jurisdiction does not discern between real or not. If it’s an image (even hentai) depicting sexual abuse against a minor then it’s CSAM. How do you know if the depicted person is a minor? That’s a question for a jury. I’m sure there are arguments against this position, but it’s merits are obvious. You don’t need to quibble over whether an image depicts a real person or not, if it’s CSAM then it’s illegal.

          • Taco@lemmy.zip
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            7 months ago

            You fucking dunce. You did not read the article. People have been taking real pictures of real children, and using AI to remove their clothes. The real person is still in the image

    • rchive@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      If you make a picture today of someone based on how they looked 10 years ago, we say it’s depicting that person as the age they were 10 years ago. How is what age they are today relevant?

      • GeneralVincent@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I’m unsure of the point you’re trying to make?

        It’s relevant in this case because the age they are today is underage. A picture of them 10 years ago is underage. And a picture of anyone made by AI to deep fake them nude is unethical irregardless of age. But it’s especially concerning when the goal is to depict underage girls as nude. The age thing specifically could get a little complicated in certain situations ig, but the intent is obvious most of the time.

        • rchive@lemm.ee
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          7 months ago

          I’m obviously not advocating or defending any particular behavior.

          Legally speaking, why is what age they are today relevant rather than the age they are depicted as in the picture? Like, imagine we have a picture 20 years from now of someone at age 37. It’s legally fine until it’s revealed it was generated in 2023 when the person in question was 17? If the exact same picture was generated a year later it’s fine again?

          • DogMuffins
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            7 months ago

            Basically, yes.

            Is the person under-age at the time the image was generated? and … Is the image sexual in nature?

            If yes, then generating or possessing such an image ought to be a crime.

        • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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          7 months ago

          If the porn were of non-real people.

          You can’t ask questions on lemmy - people assume you have lots of subtext that isn’t there.

      • DogMuffins
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        7 months ago

        IDK why this dumb thought experiment makes me so grumpy everyone someone invokes it, but you’re going to have to explain how it’s relevant here.

        • Lemming6969@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          How many pieces do you have to change before it’s not closely enough related? If every piece is modified, is it the same base image? If it’s not the same image, when does it cease to represent the original and must be reassessed? If it’s no longer the image of a real person, given the extreme variety in both real and imagined people, how can an AI image ever be illegal? If you morph between an image of a horse and an illegal image, at what exact point does it become illegal? What about a person and an illegal image? What about an ai generated borderline image and an illegal image? At some point, a legal image changes into an illegal image, and that point is nearly impossible to define. Likewise, the transition between a real and imagined person is the same, or the likeness between two similar looking real, but different, or imagined people.

          • DogMuffins
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            6 months ago

            that point is nearly impossible to define

            As with any law, there will undoubtedly be cases in which it is difficult to discern whether or not a law has been broken, but courts decide on innocence or guilt in such cases every day. A jury would be asked to decide whether a a reasonable third party is likely to conclude on the balance of probabilities that the image depicts a person who is under 18.

            Whether or not the depicted person is real or imagined is not relevant in many / most jurisdictions.

    • rchive@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      If you make a picture today of someone based on how they looked 10 years ago, we say it’s depicting that person as the age they were 10 years ago. How is what age they are today relevant?