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.
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 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.
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Affected families are pushing lawmakers to implement robust safeguards for victims whose images are manipulated using new AI models, or the plethora of apps and websites that openly advertise their services. Advocates and some legal experts also call for federal regulation that can provide uniform protections across the country and send a strong message to current and would-be perpetrators.
Dorota Mani sits for an interview Nov. 8 in her office in Jersey City, N.J. AI-generated nude images were created of Mani's daughter and female classmates.
"We're fighting for our children," said Dorota Mani, whose daughter was a victim in Westfield, a New Jersey suburb outside of New York City. "They are not Republicans, and they are not Democrats. They don't care. They just want to be loved, and they want to be safe."
The problem with deepfakes isn't new, but experts say it's getting worse as the technology to produce it becomes more available and easier to use. Researchers sounded the alarm this year on the explosion of AI-generated child sexual abuse material using depictions of real victims or virtual characters. In June, the FBI warned it was continuing to receive reports from victims, both minors and adults, whose photos or videos were used to create explicit content that was shared online.
Several states passed their own laws over the years to try to combat the problem. Texas, Minnesota and New York passed legislation this year criminalizing nonconsensual deepfake porn, joining Virginia, Georgia and Hawaii who already had laws on the books. Some states, like California and Illinois, have only given victims the ability to sue perpetrators for damages in civil court, which New York and Minnesota also allow.
A few other states are considering their own legislation, including New Jersey, where a bill is in the works to ban deepfake porn and impose penalties — either jail time, a fine or both — on those who spread it.
State Sen. Kristin Corrado, a Republican who introduced the legislation earlier this year, said she decided to get involved after reading an article about people trying to evade revenge porn laws by using their former partner's image to generate deepfake porn. The bill languished for a few months, but there's a good chance it might pass, she said, especially with the spotlight on the issue due to Westfield.
The Westfield event took place this summer and was brought to the attention of the high school on Oct. 20, Westfield High School spokesperson Mary Ann McGann said. McGann did not provide details on how the AI-generated images were spread, but Mani, the mother of one of the girls, said she received a call from the school informing her nude pictures were created using the faces of some female students and then circulated among a group of friends on the social media app Snapchat.
The school hasn't confirmed any disciplinary actions, citing confidentiality on matters involving students. Westfield police and the Union County prosecutor's office did not reply to requests for comment.
Details haven't emerged about the incident in Washington state, which happened in October and is under investigation. Paula Schwan, chief of the Issaquah Police Department, said officers obtained search warrants. When reached for comment, the Issaquah School District said it could not discuss the specifics because of the investigation but said bullying, harassment or mistreatment among students is "entirely unacceptable."
If officials move to prosecute the incident in New Jersey, state law prohibiting the sexual exploitation of minors might already apply, said Mary Anne Franks, a law professor at George Washington University who leads Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, an organization aiming to combat online abuses. But those protections don't extend to adults in a similar scenario, she said.
The best fix, Franks said, would come from a federal law that can provide consistent protections nationwide and penalize dubious organizations profiting from products and apps that easily allow anyone to make deepfakes.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order in October that, among other things, called for barring the use of generative AI to produce child sexual abuse material or nonconsensual "intimate imagery of real individuals." The order also directs the federal government to issue guidance to label and watermark AI-generated content to help differentiate it from authentic material.
Citing the Westfield incident, U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr., a Republican who represents the town, introduced a bill to require developers to put disclosures on AI-generated content. Another federal bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat, would make it illegal to share deepfake porn images online. But it hasn't advanced due to congressional gridlock.
