More than 400 AI experts, celebrities, politicians, and activists have signed an open letter demanding lawmakers to take action against deepfake technology.

The letter argued that the growing number of AI-generated videos are a threat to society due to the involvement of sexual images, child pornography, fraud, and political disinformation.

Deepfakes are AI-generated media that mimic human voices, images, and videos that can be mistaken as real.

The letter states that deepfake technology is misleading the public, making it harder to discern what is real on the internet, and therefore, is more important than ever to implement formalized laws ‘to protect our ability to recognize real human beings.’ 

Calls for more stringent regulations come after sexually explicit deepfake images of Taylor Swift went viral on social media last month.

Taylor Swift was targeted by sexually explicit deepfake images that went viral on X last month

Taylor Swift was targeted by sexually explicit deepfake images that went viral on X last month

Taylor Swift was targeted by sexually explicit deepfake images that went viral on X last month

The majority of people targeted by deepfakes are women, with videos surfacing as early as 2018. One video targeted actress Natalie Portman

The majority of people targeted by deepfakes are women, with videos surfacing as early as 2018. One video targeted actress Natalie Portman

The majority of people targeted by deepfakes are women, with videos surfacing as early as 2018. One video targeted actress Natalie Portman

‘Deepfakes are a huge threat to human society and are already causing growing harm to individuals, communities, and the functioning of democracy,’ said Andrew Critch, AI Researcher at UC Berkeley in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and lead author on the letter.

‘We need immediate action to combat the proliferation of deepfakes, and my colleagues and I created this letter as a way for people around the world to show their support for law-making efforts to stop deepfakes.’

Deepfakes have become so prevalent in society, that between 2022 and 2023, the amount of falsified sexual content increased by more than 400 percent while fraud jumped by a shocking 3,000 percent in that timeframe, according to the Ban Deepfakes campaign.

The majority of people agree that individuals who share deepfake porn online should face criminal charges

The majority of people agree that individuals who share deepfake porn online should face criminal charges

The majority of people agree that individuals who share deepfake porn online should face criminal charges

Kristen Bell was yet another celebrity targeted by a deepfake video last year

Kristen Bell was yet another celebrity targeted by a deepfake video last year

Kristen Bell was yet another celebrity targeted by a deepfake video last year

The letter, titled ‘Disrupting the Deepfake Supply Chain,’ calls for a blanket ban on deepfake technology, and demands that lawmakers fully criminalize deepfake child pornography and establish criminal penalties for anyone who knowingly creates or shares such content.

Signees also demanded that software developers and distributors be held accountable for anyone using their audio and visual products to create deepfakes.

‘It’s increasingly clear that anyone, anywhere could be the target of harmful deepfakes—including our children,’ said Sarah Gardner, CEO of the Heat Initiative.

‘Lawmakers work for us, and they have a moral imperative to protect our kids by acting quickly to hold accountable the platforms and bad actors that are allowing the proliferation of child sexual abuse material,’ she added.

Emma Watson was yet another target of deepfake technology when a fake video of her surfaced online

Emma Watson was yet another target of deepfake technology when a fake video of her surfaced online

Emma Watson was yet another target of deepfake technology when a fake video of her surfaced online

Marvel actress Scarlett Johansson was targeted last year when a deepfake video advertisement promoting Lisa AI surfaced.

Marvel actress Scarlett Johansson was targeted last year when a deepfake video advertisement promoting Lisa AI surfaced.

Marvel actress Scarlett Johansson was targeted last year when a deepfake video advertisement promoting Lisa AI surfaced.

The letter encouraged media companies, software developers, and device manufacturers to work together to create authentication methods like adding tamper-proof digital seals and cryptographic signature techniques to verify the content is real.

It also stated that the rising amount of nonconsensual pornography is one of the top reasons the letter is so important, citing one report that found that deepfake pornography accounts for 98 percent of all such videos online.

It’s not just Taylor Swift – now ANYONE can be targeted by the vile deepfake porn barons 

Deepfake porn is already a massive industry with entire dedicated ¿ and seemingly unregulated ¿ sites.

Deepfake porn is already a massive industry with entire dedicated ¿ and seemingly unregulated ¿ sites.

Deepfake porn is already a massive industry with entire dedicated – and seemingly unregulated – sites. 

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These videos received a reported 34 million views in 2023, with women accounting for 99 percent of the people targeted.

The new letter comes as Taylor Swift added her name to the dozens of other celebrities who were victims of deepfake images, when nonconsensual sexually explicit images went viral on X, garnering more than 27 million views and 260,000 likes before the images were taken down.

Female celebrities have been the primary targets of deepfake images since as early as 2018 when Natalie Portman was featured in a video.

Marvel actress Scarlett Johansson was also targeted last year when a deepfake video advertisement promoting Lisa AI surfaced.

In March, Harry Potter star Emma Watson was featured in a deepfake ad on social media where she appears to engage in a sexual act.

The technology is advancing so rapidly that anyone can be targeted, and the general public is increasingly falling victim to deepfakes, the letter stated.

More than 30 female teenagers at a New Jersey high school were targeted last year when a male classmate created and spread deepfake images of them online, prompting outrage among students and parents.

‘Today, we are seeing that it is affecting private individuals because it’s so immediate, so fast,’ ActiveFence researcher Amir Oneli told Dailymail.com in October.

‘The most tragic thing is that no one is safe.’

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk

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