Unveiling the Shadows: The Battle Against AI-Driven Undressing Sites

However, in our fast-changing technological landscape, an issue has arisen that’s proving to be as contentious and as vexing as any that’s arisen so far. The latest battleground for the use of AI – a dark new application that’s bringing to the fore some of the dystopian powers of generative artificial intelligence – has become San Francisco, in trying to rein in the use of AI-based ‘undressing’ sites, where computer learning uses increasingly sophisticated algorithms to ‘digitally strip’ from images of women their clothes, without their consent. But what’s to stop this kind of AI being used to give images a more sinister dimension like pornography?

The Disturbing Advancement of AI Technology

At the core of these sites is an AI technique known as a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), an algorithm that can generate incredibly realistic images by ‘learning’ from large datasets. This repurposing of the technology to create images of naked women with impressive precision points to the need to control and regulate emerging technologies to prevent unethical applications.

Legal Hurdles in the Digital Age

The legal powers of San Francisco’s city authorities are having none of it. The position taken by the City’s new District Attorney Brooke Jenkins is that these sites are ‘both invasive and illegal operations – and they cannot be allowed to go on’. Initially, the focus is on destroying the sites and bringing those responsible to account. However, the truth is that the law here is far from clear. The novelty and complexity of the technology means that legislation and enforcement are challenging and the fight against the sites as much a legal battle as a technological one.

The Ethical Quandary

Some of the ethical questions raised by these undressing sites are at the extremes of harm. Rachel Bell, a privacy expert at the University of California, Berkeley, told me: ‘The worst thing that could happen is, we open up a Pandora’s Box of privacy harms. We’re talking revenge porn, body shaming and harassment, which technology is sort of empowering now in a way that we didn’t have 300 years ago. The technology bolsters and opens up all sorts of potential privacy harms, and women are especially at-risk for this kind of behaviour.’ This has everything to do with protecting women’s dignity and privacy well beyond jurisdictional issues. It’s about human rights.

The Tech Industry's Role

Tech companies have been divided in response. The establishment giants such as Google and Facebook have stepped up and banned such text on their platforms, but not all companies have thrown their support behind the issue in quite the same manner. The divide in the tech arena shows that more industry-wide regulatory standards is needed to prevent AI from being used in the wrong way and to keep people’s data privacy protected online.

The Ongoing Struggle

The fact that San Francisco’s moral police felt empowered to go after these AI-driven sites of undress is a mere opening salvo in what will no doubt be an ongoing battle to protect women’s rights for the digital age. For its part, Google is not likely to give up here. Nor will the law-makers and privacy advocates fighting for the right to be forgotten. The route ahead will be bumpy, to be sure. But it would appear that the path will be well-trodden.

Looking Ahead: The Fight Continues

We must continue to follow the developments and keep abreast of the issues, because we will need to be vigilant against the misuse of the technology – and, of course, the technology itself is still very much a work in progress. This is surely a battle that we must believe we can win – if citizens, governments and companies all come together against the abuses and instead act to make the digital space a more respectful one.

About GOOGLE

As one of the world’s biggest tech companies, Google dictates everything from what we see online to how we can use the digital environment. With its algorithms, platforms and policies, Google has a huge influence on what information gets served up to us and how. If Google is willing to ban AI-powered undressing sites and work with law enforcement and privacy advocates to do so, then this sets a precedent for the rest of the tech industry to follow. Google is taking a stand to help protect its users’ privacy and ethically control how to use technology. Because of this, the way that Google responds to the war against AI-powered undressing sites will be a large influence on how long these sites remain.