But there’s no time for relaxing: Kids, especially girls, are becoming victims of fabricated, nonconsensual, sexually explicit images, often created by peers. The coming summer break provides the opportunity for coordinated action at the state level to disrupt this trend and protect children. The creation of deepfakes — highly realistic but artificial images, audio and video — used to require high-powered equipment and considerable skill. High school students outside Seattle were photographed by a classmate at a school dance who then “undressed” them on his phone and circulated supposedly nude pictures. While anti-child pornography statutes, Title IX regulations regarding online harassment and revenge-porn laws already exist, these measures were not designed to handle the unique challenges posed by deepfake technology.

Source: New York Times June 11, 2024 19:55 UTC