AI driving ‘explosion’ of fake nudes as victims say the law is failing them
Campaigners are warning the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create realistic but fake nude images of real women is becoming “normalised”.
It’s also an increasing concern in schools. A recent survey by Internet Matters found 13% of teenagers have had an experience with nude deepfakes, while the NSPCC told Sky News “a new harm is developing”.
Ofcom will later this month introduce codes of practice for internet companies to clamp down on the illegal distribution of fake nudes, but Sky News has met two victims of this relatively new trend, who say the law needs to go further.
Earlier this year, social media influencer and former Love Island contestant, Cally Jane Beech, 33, was horrified when she discovered someone had used AI to turn an underwear brand photograph of her into a nude and it was being shared online.
The original image had been uploaded to a site that uses software to digitally transform a clothed picture into a naked picture.
Cally Jane Beech says she was horrified after a photo of her was turned into a nude and shared online
She told Sky News: “It looked so realistic, like nobody but me would know. It was like looking at me, but also not me.”
She added: “There shouldn’t be such a thing. It’s not a colouring book. It’s not a bit of fun. It’s people’s identity and stripping their clothes off.”
When Cally reported what had happened to the police, she struggled to get them to treat it as a crime.
“They didn’t really know what they could do about it, and because the site that hosted the image was global, they said that it’s out of their jurisdiction,” she said.
In November, Assistant Chief Constable Samantha Miller, of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, addressed a committee of MPs on the issue and concluded “the system is failing”, with a lack of capacity and inconsistency of practice across forces.
ACC Miller told the women and equalities committee she’d recently spoken to a campaigner who was in contact with 450 victims and “only two of them had a positive experience of policing”.
The government says new legislation outlawing the generation of AI nudes is coming next year, although it is already illegal to make fake nudes of minors.
Meanwhile, the problem is growing with multiple apps available for the purpose of unclothing people in photographs. Anyone can become a victim, although it is nearly always women.
Professor Clare McGlynn, an expert in online harms, said: “We’ve seen an exponential rise in the use of sexually explicit deepfakes. For example, one of the largest, most notorious websites dedicated to this abuse receives about 14 million hits a month.
“These nudify apps are easy to get from the app store, they’re advertised on Tik Tok, So, of course, young people are downloading them and using them. We’ve normalised the use of these nudify apps.”
‘Betrayed by my best friend’
Sky News spoke to “Jodie” (not her real name) from Cambridge who was tipped off by an anonymous email that she appeared to be in sex videos on a pornographic website.
“The images that I posted on Instagram and Facebook, which were fully clothed, were manipulated and turned into sexually explicit material,” she said.
Alex Woolf avoided jail and was told to pay £100 to each of his 15 victims
Jodie began to suspect someone she knew was posting pictures and encouraging people online to manipulate them.
Then she found a particular photograph, taken outside King’s College in Cambridge, that only one person had.
It was her best friend, Alex Woolf. She had airdropped the picture to him alone.
Woolf, who once won BBC young composer of the year, was later convicted of offences against 15 women, mostly because of Jodie’s perseverance and detective work.
Even then, his conviction only related to the offensive comments attached to the images, because while it’s illegal to share images – it’s not a crime to ask others to create them.
Jodie identified Woolf as he was the only one she’d sent this photo to
He was given a suspended sentence and ordered to pay £100 to each of his victims.
Jodie believes it’s imperative new laws are introduced to outlaw making and soliciting these types of images.
“My abuse is not your fun,” she said.
“Online abuse has the same effect psychologically that physical abuse does. I became suicidal, I wasn’t able to trust those closest to me because I had been betrayed by my best friend. And the effect of that on a person is monumental.”
‘A scary, lonely place’
A survey in October by Teacher Tap found 7% of teachers answered yes to the question: “In the last 12 months, have you had an incident of a student using technology to create a fake sexually graphic image of a classmate?”
In their campaigning both Cally and Jodie have come across examples of schoolgirls being deep faked.
Cally said: “It is used as a form of bullying because they think it’s funny. But it can have such a mental toll, and it must be a very scary and lonely place for a young girl to be dealing with that.”
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The NSPCC said it has had calls about nude deepfakes to its helpline.
The charity’s policy manager for child safety online, Rani Govender, said the pictures can be used as “part of a grooming process” or as a form of blackmail, as well as being passed around by classmates “as a form of bullying and harassment”.
“Children become scared, isolated and they worry they won’t be believed that the images are created by someone else,” Ms Govender said.
She added: “This is a new harm, and it is developing, and it will require new measures from the government with child protection as a priority.”
Alex Davies-Jones, under-secretary of state for victims, told MPs in November: “We’ve committed to making an offence of creating a deepfake illegal and we will be legislating for that this session.”
For campaigners like Jodie and Cally the new laws can’t come soon enough. However, they worry they won’t have strong enough clauses around banning the soliciting of content and ensuring images are removed once they’ve been discovered.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
Donald Trump may be denied the honour of addressing parliament on his state visit to the UK later this year, with no formal request yet submitted for him to be given that privilege.
It comes after President Macron’s successful state visit this week, in which he was invited to speak in front of both Houses of Parliament.
Sky News has been told the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, hasn’t so far received a request to invite the US president to speak in parliament when he is expected to visit in September.
It was confirmed to MPs who have raised concerns about the US president being allowed to address both houses.
Kate Osborne, Labour MP for Jarrow and Gateshead East, wrote to the speaker in April asking him to stop Mr Trump from addressing parliament, and tabled an early-day motion outlining her concerns.
“I was happy to see Macron here but feel very differently about Trump,” she said.
“Trump has made some very uncomfortable and worrying comments around the UK government, democracy, the Middle East, particularly around equalities and, of course, Ukraine.
“So, I think there are many reasons why, when we’re looking at a state visit, we should be looking at why they’re being afforded that privilege. Because, of course, it is a privilege for somebody to come and address both of the houses.”
But the timing of the visit may mean that any diplomatic sensitivities, or perceptions of a snub, could be avoided.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron addressed parliament during his state visit this month
Lord Ricketts, a former UK ambassador to France, pointed out that parliament isn’t sitting for much of September, and that could help resolve the issue.
In 2017, he wrote a public letter questioning the decision to give Donald Trump his first state visit, saying it put Queen Elizabeth II in a “very difficult position”.
Parliament rises from 16 September until 13 October due to party conferences.
The dates for the state visit haven’t yet been confirmed by Buckingham Palace or the government.
However, they have not denied that it will take place in September, after Mr Trump appeared to confirm they were planning to hold the state visit that month. The palace confirmed this week that the formal planning for his arrival had begun.
Mr Trump has said he believes the trip to the UK will take place in September. Pic: Reuters
When asked about parliamentary recess potentially solving the issue, Ms Osborne said: “It may be a way of dealing with it in a very diplomatic way… I don’t know how much control we have over Trump’s diary.
“But if we can manoeuvre it in a way that means that the House isn’t sitting, then that seems like a good solution, maybe not perfect, because I’d actually like him to know that he’s not welcome.”
A message from the speaker’s office, seen by Sky News, says: “Formal addresses to both Houses of Parliament are not automatically included in the itinerary of such a state visit.
“Whether a foreign head of state addresses parliament, during a state visit or otherwise, is part of the planning decisions.”
Mr Trump made his first state visit to the UK in June 2019 during his first presidency. File pic: Reuters
It’s understood that if the government agrees to a joint address to parliament, the Lord Chamberlain’s office writes to the two speakers, on behalf of the King, to ask them to host this.
It will be Mr Trump’s second state visit.
During his first, in 2019, he didn’t address parliament, despite the fact that his predecessor, Barack Obama, was asked to do so.
It was unclear if this was due to the fact John Bercow, the speaker at the time, made it clear he wasn’t welcome to do so.
However, it didn’t appear to dampen Mr Trump’s excitement about his time with the Royal Family.
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Speaking earlier this year, he described his state visit as “a fest” adding “it’s an honour… I’m a friend of Charles, I have great respect for King Charles and the family, William; we have really just a great respect for the family. And I think they’re setting a date for September.”
It is expected that, like Mr Macron, the pageantry for his trip this time will revolve around Windsor, with refurbishment taking place at Buckingham Palace.
Fuel to the engines of the Air India plane that crashed last month appears to have cut off shortly after take-off, a preliminary report has found.
According to the report switches in the cockpit that controlled fuel moved to a “CUTOFF” position.
It said: “Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of one second.
“The Engine N1 and N2 began to decrease from their take-off values as the fuel supply to the engines was cut off.”
The crash site. Pic: AAIB
There was then confusion in the cockpit. In the voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he “cut off”. The other pilot responds that he did not do so.
There were no conclusions as to how the switches were moved.
One of the engines was able to be restarted, but could not reverse the plane’s deceleration, the report found.
“At this stage of investigation, there are no recommended actions to Boeing 787-8 and/or GE GEnx-1B engine operators and manufacturers,” India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said in the report.
A diagram in the report shows how the plane crashed into a building. Pic: AAIB
No significant bird activity was observed in the vicinity of the plane’s flight path, the report said. The aircraft started to lose altitude before crossing the airport perimeter wall, it added.
The plane plummeted into a busy area, killing 241 passengers and 19 others on the ground while incinerating everything around it.
The AAIB’s report is based on the initial findings of the probe, marking 30 days since the crash.
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Liverpool have retired the number 20 shirt in honour of Diogo Jota – the first time it has made such a gesture.
The club said it was a “unique tribute to a uniquely wonderful person” and the decision was made in consultation with his wife and family.
The number 20 will be retired at all levels, including the men’s and women’s first teams and academy squads.
A statement said: “It was the number he wore with pride and distinction, leading us to countless victories in the process – and Diogo Jota will forever be Liverpool Football Club’s number 20.”
The club called it a “recognition of not only the immeasurable contribution our lad from Portugal made to the Reds’ on-pitch successes over the last five years, but also the profound personal impact he had on his teammates, colleagues and supporters and the everlasting connections he built with them”.
Jota’s wife joined Liverpool players to view tributes at Anfield on Friday. Pic: Liverpool FC
Pic: Liverpool FC
Newly-married Jota died alongside his brother when his Lamborghini crashed in northern Spain on 3 July.
Police said this week that all the evidence so far suggests Jota was the one driving the vehicle.
Liverpool teammates joined members of Jota’s family, including his wife Rute, at a huge memorial site outside Anfield on Friday.
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A fan looks at messages on a memorial wall near Anfield. Pic: Reuters
Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson were among players at the funeral. Pic: Reuters
The star’s funeral took place last weekend, with Liverpool colleagues and members of the Portuguese national team in attendance.
Reds captain Virgil van Dijk carried a shirt bearing the number 20 made from flowers.
Liverpool players returned to the club’s training ground for the start of pre-season on Tuesday.
Their first game since Jota’s death will be on Sunday when they play a friendly away against Preston North End.
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