More than 400 AI experts, celebrities, politicians and activists have signed an open letter asking lawmakers to take action against this deeply fake technology.
The letter argues that the growing number of AI-generated videos pose a threat to society due to the involvement of sexual images, child pornography, fraud and political disinformation.
Deepfakes are AI-generated media that mimic human voices, images and videos that can be mistaken as real.
The letter states that deepfake technology deceives the public, making it more difficult to discern what is real on the internet, making it more important than ever to implement formalized laws “to protect our ability to recognize real people.”
The calls for stricter regulations come after sexually explicit deepfake images of Taylor Swift went viral on social media last month.
Taylor Swift was the target of sexually explicit deepfake images that went viral on X last month
The majority of people targeted by deepfakes are women, with videos popping up as early as 2018. One video targeted actress Natalie Portman
“Deepfakes pose an enormous threat to human society and are already causing increasing harm to individuals, communities, and the functioning of democracy,” said Andrew Critch, AI researcher at UC Berkeley in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and lead author of the article. letter.
“We need immediate action to stop the spread of deepfakes, and my colleagues and I wrote this letter as a way for people around the world to show their support for legislative efforts to stop deepfakes.”
Deepfakes have become so widespread in society that between 2022 and 2023, the amount of faked sexual content increased by more than 400 percent, while fraud increased by a shocking 3,000 percent during that period, the report said. Ban deepfakes campaign.
The majority of people agree that those who share deepfake porn online should be criminally prosecuted
Kristen Bell was another celebrity targeted in a deepfake video last year
The letter, entitled ‘Disrupting the deepfake supply chain,” calls for a blanket ban on deepfake technology and demands that lawmakers fully criminalize deepfake child pornography and establish criminal penalties for anyone who knowingly creates or shares such content.
Signatories also demanded that software developers and distributors be held accountable for anyone who uses their audio and visual products to create deepfakes.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that anyone, anywhere can be targeted by harmful deepfakes – including our children,” said Sarah Gardner, CEO of the Heat Initiative.
“Lawmakers work for us, and they have a moral obligation to protect our children by acting quickly and holding accountable the platforms and bad actors that enable the spread of sexual abuse material,” she added.
Emma Watson was once again a target of deepfake technology when a fake video of her surfaced online
Marvel actress Scarlett Johansson was targeted last year when a deepfake video ad promoting Lisa AI surfaced.
The letter encouraged media companies, software developers and device manufacturers to work together to create authentication methods, such as adding tamper-resistant digital seals and cryptographic signature techniques to verify that the content is genuine.
It also stated that the increasing amount of non-consensual pornography is one of the main reasons why the letter is so important. report which found that deepfake pornography makes up 98 percent of all such videos online.
These videos reportedly received 34 million views in 2023, with 99 percent of the target audience being women.
The new letter comes as Taylor Swift added her name to the dozens of other celebrities who were victims of deepfake images, as non-consensual sexually explicit images went viral on images were removed.
Female celebrities have been the main targets of deepfake images since Natalie Portman was featured in a video in 2018.
Marvel actress Scarlett Johansson was also targeted last year when a deepfake video advert promoting Lisa AI surfaced.
In March, Harry Potter star Emma Watson was featured in a deepfake ad on social media in which she appears to perform a sex act.
Technology is developing so quickly that anyone can become a target, and the general public is increasingly falling victim to deepfakes, the letter said.
Last year, more than 30 female teenagers at a New Jersey high school were targeted when a male classmate created and distributed deepfake images of them online, sparking outrage among students and parents.
“Today we see it affecting private individuals because it happens so directly and so quickly,” ActiveFence researcher Amir Oneli told Dailymail.com in October.
“The most tragic thing is that no one is safe.”