Analyzing the AI Nudification Application Ecosystem

TL;DR

A systematic study of the nudification application ecosystem across multiple applications, focusing on 20 popular and easy-to-find nudification websites, is conducted, believing it will empower future, data-informed conversations on how to better protect individuals' rights and minimize harm in the face of modern AI-based nudification applications.

Abstract

Given a source image of a clothed person (an image subject), AI-based nudification applications can produce nude (undressed) images of that person. Moreover, not only do such applications exist, but there is ample evidence of the use of such applications in the real world and without the consent of an image subject. Still, despite the growing awareness of the existence of such applications and their potential to violate the rights of image subjects and cause downstream harms, there has been no systematic study of the nudification application ecosystem across multiple applications. We conduct such a study here, focusing on 20 popular and easy-to-find nudification websites. We study the positioning of these web applications (e.g., finding that most sites explicitly target the nudification of women, not all people), the features that they advertise (e.g., ranging from undressing-in-place to the rendering of image subjects in sexual positions, as well as differing user-privacy options), and their underlying monetization infrastructure (e.g., credit cards and cryptocurrencies). We believe this work will empower future, data-informed conversations -- within the scientific, technical, and policy communities -- on how to better protect individuals' rights and minimize harm in the face of modern (and future) AI-based nudification applications. Content warning: This paper includes descriptions of web applications that can be used to create synthetic non-consensual explicit AI-created imagery (SNEACI). This paper also includes an artistic rendering of a user interface for such an application.

Figures (6)

• Figure 1: These are artistic renderings based on several real UI's from the nudification applications we study. In the rendering, less details of the human form are shown. This figure shows the interface for uploading a photo and various different options that a user can pick from to customize the resulting image. On the left, a play button is added over the "sex" option to indicate that some applications can produce both image and video outputs. On the right, we indicate that some of the features are only available after payment. Artwork credit: Hanna Barakat.
• Figure 2: The ecosystem offers a variety of features at different subscription tiers.
• Figure 3: 14 out of the 20 websites will ask the user if they are 18 years old or older; however, when this occurs varies. 7 websites ask upon loading up the website; 2 ask when the user registers/logs in; 1 asks when users attempt to view the gallery; 3 ask before purchase; and 1 asks at generation. These periods reveal a variety of nudity to the user before their age is asked, and in the case of 6 applications, they are able to generate images without being asked their age.
• Figure 4: All 20 websites specialize in AI Undressing Tools for the female form; however, the levels of explicit imagery visible on the homepage of each application vary between websites. This can range from blurred naked "undressing" photos to celebrities being posed naked in sexual positions.
• Figure 5: This ecosystem offers a variety of price points. On average, AI nudification generations cost between $1.00 and $0.06 depending on the application that the user bought from and the subscription tier that they purchased.