A TikTok user known as Rachel shared a distressing experience where anonymous social media users used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate fake nude images of her.
Used AI to make it look like she was naked
Rachel explained the situation in a TikTok video posted on Apr. 24.
"Weirdest thing happened to me yesterday," she said. She shared that she had received a message request on Instagram.
The message contained pictures she had posted on social media which had been edited using AI to make it look like she was naked.
In a second video she posted on Apr. 27, Rachel said the original photos she posted were of her "completely clothed".
Rachel was visibly distressed and teary-eyed throughout the video.
The day after she first received the photos on Instagram, she found herself receiving dozens of direct messages (DM) of the fake nude photos with their original watermarks removed.
The anonymous person had apparently "paid to have the watermark removed" and distributed the photos "like it was real".
Rachel said that these photos are obviously fake. Her body did not resemble the AI-generated images.
The AI-generated images also showed a tattoo along her lower stomach, which she did not have. She said:
"'I'm just letting you know that anything you see of me is edited or fake. I don't have any content. I don't sell content. None of that is real. And it's so gross".
Commenters downplayed the situation
Rachel also called out "disgusting" and "vile" comments that people left in her first video, which made her want to "throw up multiple times".
Some of the commenters downplayed the seriousness of the situation and made light of the events.
Such comments include "Would you be willing to give an example" and "Agreed someone make it accurate and dm me so I can confirm".
Others also joked about the situation.
Rachel also claimed that netizens accused her of posting the first video because she wanted more people to see the AI-generated images.
Someone had also said she "did this to [herself]" and she had "ask[ed] for it".
Responding to these comments, she said, "No, it's because I want you to know they're not real," she said between tears. "Please stop".
"Feels like a form of rape"
In an interview with NextShark, Rachel said the incident made her afraid to post on social media.
"If I do people will say I'm asking for it by continuing to post myself," she said, as quoted by NextShark. "But I don't want to be chased off the internet by these people."
She found it disgusting that people she had never met before wanted to see her naked and actively seek out these fake images or even create them using AI.
"And the people who still want it knowing that they’re fake and also very much nonconsensual belong on a list somewhere because this honestly feels like a form of rape," she said.
Rachel also shared that she might be targeted because of her race, revealing that she had been receiving sexual and suggestive comments and DMs in relation to her race.
"This is so messed up"
Rachel's second video has garnered 1.3m views as of May 6.
Most of the comments are sympathetic towards the situation and offered support to Rachel.
Another netizen suggested that Rachel take the matter to the police, though someone pointed out that existing laws may not apply to such a new area of AI.
https://mothership.sg/2023/05/tiktok-ai-fake-harassed/
