AI-Powered “Nudify” Services Blocked in Australia Following Government Action
This article contains references to child sexual exploitation.
Australia has taken a significant step in protecting children online with the blocking of three widely-used AI-powered “nudify” services. The UK-based company behind the services voluntarily withdrew access for Australian users after receiving a formal notice from the eSafety Commissioner in September, citing concerns over the creation of artificially generated child sexual exploitation material.
The action comes consequently of Australia’s mandatory online safety code, which demands platforms actively combat the most harmful content.The services in question were flagged for features that facilitated the creation of exploitative imagery, including options to “undress” individuals and generate images specifically depicting “schoolgirls” and incorporating “sex mode” functionalities.
Approximately 100,000 Australians were accessing these services monthly, and they have been implicated in numerous cases of students creating and sharing non-consensual, digitally altered images of their peers.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant hailed the takedown as a demonstration of Australia’s robust online safety standards. “We know ‘nudify’ services have been used to devastating effect in Australian schools,” Grant stated.”Blocking access for Australians will have a real impact on protecting vulnerable school children from this form of AI-generated abuse.”
The move follows similar action by Hugging Face, a global AI model-hosting platform, which revised its terms of service to prevent the misuse of its tools for creating harmful content, including child sexual exploitation material. Hugging Face now requires users to mitigate risks associated with uploaded models and faces substantial fines for non-compliance.
eSafety has seen a doubling in reports of digitally altered images, including deepfakes, originating from individuals under the age of 18 in the last 18 months. A concerning 80% of these reports involve the targeting of women and girls.
The eSafety Commissioner’s office is currently collaborating with the government to develop further reforms aimed at restricting access to these perilous “nudify” tools and bolstering online safety for all Australians.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, or call the National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service on 1800 211 028.
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