Meta oversight board examining handling of AI-generated celebrity pornography by One America News Network
April 16, 2024 – 3:03 AM PDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Meta Platforms’ (META.O) Oversight Board is currently evaluating the company’s response to two sexually explicit AI-generated images of female celebrities that circulated on its Facebook and Instagram platforms, as announced by the board on Tuesday.
Advertisement
The Oversight Board, which is financially supported by the social media giant but operates independently, will use these instances to evaluate the overall effectiveness of Meta’s policies and enforcement measures concerning pornographic fakes created using artificial intelligence, stated in a blog post.
While descriptions of the images in question were provided, the famous women depicted in them were not named in order to prevent further harm, according to a spokesperson for the board.
Advancements in AI technology have led to the creation of fabricated images, audio files, and videos that are almost indistinguishable from content created by humans, resulting in a rise of sexual fakes being shared online, predominantly depicting women and girls.
Earlier this year, in a highly publicized case, Elon Musk’s social media platform X briefly prevented users from searching for images of U.S. pop star Taylor Swift after struggling to control the dissemination of fake explicit images of her.
Several industry leaders have suggested the implementation of legislation to criminalize the creation of harmful “deep fakes” and mandate that tech companies prevent such misuse of their products.
According to the Oversight Board’s descriptions of the cases, one involves an AI-generated image of a nude woman resembling a public figure from India, shared on an Instagram account that exclusively posts AI-generated images of Indian women.
The other image, as per the board, was seen in a Facebook group for sharing AI creations, featuring an AI-generated representation of a nude woman resembling “an American public figure,” with a man groping her breast.
While Meta removed the image depicting the American woman due to violation of its bullying and harassment policy prohibiting “derogatory sexualized photoshops or drawings,” the one featuring the Indian woman was initially allowed, only later removed after being selected for review by the board.
In a separate statement, Meta acknowledged the cases and committed to implementing the decisions made by the Oversight Board.
Reporting by Katie Paul; Editing by Stephen Coates
