Two Portuguese organizations alerted Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, to the existence of an application that can, through Artificial Intelligence, “undress a person” who is in a photo.
The complaint was made on Sunday by MiudosSegurosNa.Net and Agarrados à Net, but this morning the app “continued to be active” and being advertised on Meta’s platforms, Tito de Morais, founder of the MiudosSegurosNa.Net project, told Lusa.
“So far we have not had any feedback from Meta, we think it is important to draw people’s attention to this type of situation, so that they can be regulated”, he added.
Tito de Morais recalled the Left Bloc’s proposal, which was recently unanimously approved, to criminalize this type of practice, but the proposal to change the Penal Code is not yet in force.
Using phrases like “Erase her clothes. Upload a photo. Erase anyone’s clothes” or “See me naked for free. This amazing app can erase everything!”, the advertising points to a ‘website’ where the user can download a photo of a clothed person, press a button to generate a similar photo but with the person naked.
The image generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) is displayed slightly blurred and to blur it or download it, the user simply needs to subscribe to the service, which can be paid monthly, quarterly, annually or even for life.
“At a time when there is talk of banning social networks for children under 16 years of age, it was important that this type of situation was regulated. There is no point in banning children from networks if it will continue to affect adults. We could not remain silent when we saw the Meta approve advertising for a ‘nudification’ application, in practice encouraging users to commit an illicit act”, said the founder of the MiudosSegurosNa.Net project.
“Instead of restricting social media to children under 16 or banning the use of cell phones, it would be good for governments to be concerned about holding accountable platforms that approve advertising that in practice encourages them to commit a crime that affects not only children and young people, but also adults”, added Cristiane Miranda, co-founder of the Agarrados à Net project.
Tito de Morais recalled some of the recommendations that have been suggested by the two organizations, such as requiring images created with AI to contain a watermark or other sign that identifies them as being produced by AI.
In the case of applications like the one now reported, the two projects go further, being of the opinion that they should not even be allowed “and the companies that produce them should be heavily penalized”, explained Tito de Morais.
“Indeed, technology has immense benefits and advantages, but in “nudification” apps I don’t find any. They should be banned”, confirmed Cristiane Miranda.
Tito de Morais and Cristine Miranda ask that Meta remove advertising for this type of product and take measures to avoid similar situations in the future.
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