AI bot sharing fake nude images of real women on Telegram

Visual threats intelligence company Sensity discovered an AI bot embedded in Telegram. The bot is taking users’ photos and sharing them as photo-realistic simulated nude images, without their knowledge or consent.

However, this bot seems to target women exclusively. Over 680,000 women are unaware that their photos have been uploaded to this bot on Telegram. 70% of these women reside in Russia or Eastern Europe. Also, 70% of these photos come from social media or private sources.

Unlike other algorithms for creating deepfake videos or photos, this bot requires only one photo to generate multiple fake nude images. Nina Jankowicz, author of How to Lose the Information War, said ‘This is all part and parcel of the broader abuse and harassment that women have to deal with in the online environment, whether that’s just trolling or whether it’s the gendered and sexualized abuse coming from all sides of the political spectrum.

It’s used as a weapon to try to push women out of the public sphere. However, this is just an extension of that.’ The media reports that all sensitive data discovered during the investigation has been disclosed to Telegram, [Russian social media site] VK, and relevant law enforcement authorities. There is no response from Telegram or VK yet.

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