Underage actress explained gut-wrenching moment she found sexually explicit deepfakes of herself on X

Marvel star Xochitl Gomez spoke out about the gut-wrenching moment she discovered pornographic deepfakes using her face had been circulating on X.

Celebrities have been the targets of deepfakes since the dawn of AI, and while some may seem amusing, there are a lot of deeply inappropriate sexual images of popular faces floating aroudn the internet without consent.

One person who has been impacted by this epidemic is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness star Gomez, who spoke out about the harrowing moment she learnt her face had been used to create explicit deepfakes back in 2024.

Touching on the topic during an interview on The Squeeze podcast - which is hosted by actor Taylor Lautner and his wife, also named Taylor Lautner - the 19-year-old remembered being 'weirded out' after seeing the images on X.

"It made me weirded out and I didn’t like it and I wanted it taken down. That was my main thought process was, 'Down. Take this down. Please'." she recalled.

Actor Xochitl Gomez spoke about the impact finding explicit AI deepfakes of herself (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

"It wasn’t because I felt like it was invading my privacy, more just like it wasn’t a good look for me. This has nothing to do with me. And yet it’s on here with my face."

The actor, who was underage when some of the content was generated, explained that she told her mother about the images, who then revealed that her team had tried and failed to have them taken down.

"It’s just weird to think if someone looked up my name, that’s also what pops up, too," she added. "You can’t take them down...

"It freaked me out that someone thinks that's cool."

This comes as Musk's X is currently under fire after multiple users have reported seeing sexually explicit images of underage women created through the site's AI chatbot Grok.

This isn't the first time the AI feature has faced backlash either, with the chatbot previously making racist comments while one woman called out the feature after spotting images of her which had 'glue' artificially added over her face.

The controversy is back in the spotlight once again, with numerous users reporting seeing sexually explicit images of numerous women, including celebrities such as Sabrina Carpenter, Sydney Sweeney and Millie Bobby Brown, being generated by the AI feature once again.

The actor is one of many women impacted by explicit images generated by Grok, with others including Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift, Sydney Sweeney and Millie Bobby Brown (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for AEG)

What are the laws around sexually explicit AI deepfakes?

Laws around sexually explicit deepfakes are currently changing.

Last January, the UK government announced that it would be making the creation of exually explicit ‘deepfake’ images a criminal offence, with perpetrators at risk of facing up to two years behind bars if caught.

"We cannot and will not allow the proliferation of these demeaning and degrading images, which are disproportionately aimed at women and girl," Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, said in a recent statement on X.

"Make no mistake, the UK will not tolerate the endless proliferation of disgusting and abusive material online. We must all come together to stamp it out."

However laws differ around the world, with NBC news reporting that no federal laws protecting people against deepfake porn currently exist in the US.