Fake nude photos of 1 lakh women from social media uploaded on Telegram

Fake naked pictures of over 100,000 women were created using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and shared on the messaging app Telegram.

The naked pictures were shared on Telegram after AI digitally removed clothes from the pictures of those women who had uploaded them on social media to produce photo-realistic simulated nude images. According to tech researchers, the action was performed without the women’s knowledge or consent. The bot, which works only on images of women, is apparently free to use on smartphones and computers and is easily accessible via Telegram. Sensity AI, a cybersecurity company tracking deepfakes, stated in a report, “Our investigation of this bot and its affiliated channels revealed several key findings. Approximately 104,852 women have been targeted and had their personal “stripped”  images shared publicly as of the end of July, 2020. The number of these images grew by 198% in the last 3 months.” The author of the report and an expert on deepfakes, Henry Ajder, reportedly said, “The activity on the bot’s affiliated Telegram channels makes for bleak viewing. On the image sharing galleries, thousands of synthetically stripped images of young women taken from social media and private correspondence are constantly being uploaded.”

Ajder further added, “The bot’s significance, as opposed to other tools for creating deepfakes, is its accessibility, which has enabled tens of thousands of users to non-consensually strip these images. Up until now, we’ve seen a relatively low amount of activity with deepfakes and paedophilic content, but this investigation provides a stark warning that this trend is definitely over.” Sensity AI has reportedly contacted relevant law enforcement agencies regarding the issue.