OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is pushing for the release of an “adult version” of ChatGPT, while Elon Musk has advocated for allowing Grok to generate R-rated content. If you’re not already worried that allowing AI to create adult content is a bad idea, this new survey might change your mind.
More than half of American teenagers have used AI tools to create nude images of themselves or others, according to a new study published in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Chad Steel of George Mason University.
The survey collected responses from 557 English-speaking U.S. residents between the ages of 13 and 17. The survey was anonymous and was conducted with parental consent.
What did the study find?
The results are hard to stomach. 55.3% of teens surveyed reported using nudity tools to create at least one image of themselves or others. 54.4% reported receiving AI-generated nude images.
Even more concerning, 36.3% reported that a sexualized AI image of themselves was created by someone else without their consent, and 33.2% reported that these images were shared without their consent.
The results were largely consistent across different demographic groups. However, male participants reported higher rates of creating and disseminating these images, both consensually and non-consensually.
Why is this a big problem?
Since the advent of smartphones, people have been sending each other nude photos. However, this requires a willing participant. AI nudification tools do not do this. Anyone with a photo of you and access to one of these apps can create a fake nude image without your knowledge or consent.
Victims of this type of abuse experience similar consequences to other forms of child sexual exploitation material, including a feeling of dehumanization and permanent disruption to their lives.
Steel puts it well: “Teens are no longer just digital natives, but AI natives. ‘Nudification’ and GenAI apps are their new ‘sexting,’ just with more difficult questions around consent.”
The hope is that findings like these will prompt lawmakers and educators to act before the problem becomes even more difficult to address.
