MIT Technology Review sounds the alarm on this “horrifying new app.”
It’s here. The long-feared day when AI technology could advance to the point when anyone’s photo could be swapped, highly realistically, into a porn video for nefarious purposes including revenge and blackmail. MIT Technology Review first reported on a dangerous new website which uses just a picture of the person and a click to turn them into a porn star. (MIT Technology Review)
MIT does not name the site
Visually, MIT describes the unnamed site as one with a white background, a giant blue button, and displaying an invitation to test the service.
It claims it can transform the image of any person’s face using deepfake AI technology into an adult video – simply at the push of a button.
MIT, has chosen to refer to the website simply as ‘Y,’ warning that it is the first dedicated pornographic face-swapping app that takes this to a new level.
How it works
Once the user uploads a face image, a library of porn video options opens up – featuring, in the main, women.
Upon selection of the video, the site generates a preview of the new, face-swapped porn video. The full version can only be downloaded on payment.
The videos produced by Y are not sophisticated and most can easily be identified as fake. Besides, on conversion, many faces suffer from distortion and a shimmering effect. But the dangerous potential of deepfake technology is on full display.
Casual viewers, and those ignorant of AI’s technological prowess, could be easily fooled into thinking the videos are for real, says MIT.
The videos, though still somewhat crude, would nevertheless have a disastrous and traumatic psychological effect on the victim. (However, the site exhorts users to upload only their own photos. But who’s checking?)
Since it is difficult to remove such images from the internet, they could affect victims’ interpersonal relations, potential romantic relationships and employment prospects.
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Images Credit: Pixabay (Face Detection) and Pixabay (Hands Smartphone), merged for effect.