Italian Prime Minister shares explicit AI photos of herself in harrowing warning to public
Deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence have become a real problem as the technology has advanced in recent years and Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is the latest to highlight her serious concerns with AI-generated images.
It was only last year when Elon Musk's Grok AI started facing backlash, first for posting pictures of young women with 'glue' on their faces before taking things a step further and generating images of scantily-clad celebrities and women without their consent.
Lawyers have warned that the issue is only going to get worse, as the law hasn't quite caught up with the capabilities of the technology yet, with child sex pornography a horrifying but likely conclusion as people are seemingly free to generate whatever images they desire if they try hard enough to bypass any restrictions.
After the UK government promised a crackdown on deepfake images, Italy's Prime Minister has become the latest victim, even sharing her own explicit AI image on social media to highlight the problem that many women in the public eye are facing.
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She shared a picture of herself in lingerie which many had been fooled into thinking was real, with one user even writing: "That a prime minister should present herself in such a state is truly shameful. Unworthy of the institutional role she holds. She has no sense of shame.”
On Facebook, Meloni responded: "In recent days, several fake images of me have been circulating, generated using artificial intelligence and passed off as real by some overzealous opponents.
“I must admit that whoever created them … even improved my appearance quite a bit,” she joked. “But the fact remains that, in order to attack and spread falsehoods, people are now willing to use absolutely anything.”
Meloni had previously sued two men for $100,000 after a deepfake video was created of her, later passing a law which criminalised the creation of images which caused 'unjust harm' to the victim.
“The issue goes beyond me,” she added. “Deepfakes are a dangerous tool, because they can deceive, manipulate and target anyone. I can defend myself. Many others cannot. For this reason, one rule should always apply: verify before believing, and think before sharing. Because today it happens to me, tomorrow it could happen to anyone.”
Earlier this year, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall spoke about the issue of sexualised AI images in parliament, promising swift action.
She said: "Sexually manipulating images of women and children is despicable and abhorrent. It is an insult and totally unacceptable for Grok to still allow this if you’re willing to pay for it. I expect Ofcom to use the full legal powers Parliament has given them.
"We are as determined to ensure women and girls are safe online as we are to ensure they are safe in the real world. No excuses."
Although Musk promised action on his Grok programme, he simply put the deepfakes behind a paywall to profit off the sexualised content, and the money involved with this content perhaps means that these sorts of images and videos will sadly always be available to someone who is willing to pay for it.
Topics: Artificial Intelligence, Elon Musk
James Moorhouse