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AI-Nudes, And The ClothOff Conundrum | Deepfake Watch
Browser View | March 1, 2024 | Subscribe
It’s bad! A middle school in California saw AI-generated nudes of its female students go viral - with some victims as young as 12.
An obscure app called ClothOff was found responsible for generating such nudes of many teenagers around the world. The Guardian investigated it all the way to Belarus and Russia, and revealed several names.
The Biden robocall that went viral earlier this year was made by a magician, and commissioned by a political consultant. He says he did this to push for regulations around AI in politics.
Can you tell a real image or audio clip from those that are AI-generated? Then try out the quizzes by Axios and The Guardian, and put your abilities to test.
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Trouble in schools
Students at Beverly Vista Middle School in California were found using AI to generate fake nude photos of their classmates, some as young as 12.
This is yet another in a growing list of schools grappling with cases of AI-generated explicit images of their students being created and shared by their own peers.
Such cases have been spotted in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), New Jersey (US), Winnipeg (Canada) and Seattle (US). In Almendralejo (Spain), over 20 teenage girls from four different middle schools had AI-generated nudes of them go viral in their local community, causing massive panic. A middle school teacher in Texas also became victim to AI last year, after her face was morphed into a pornographic video and shared in the school with students and teachers using Apple’s ad hoc service AirDrop.
The hype around the AI industry has prompted the easy accessibility to a plethora of tools that can be used anonymously. As a result, most of the perpetrators in the above cases have not been found.
In the Beverly Hills middle school case, they managed to track down a few students - all minors - who may have been responsible for the creation or sharing of the explicit images. The school is threatening “suspension to expulsion”, but the legal ramifications can be tricky with juveniles.
The one app at the heart of it all
Many of the cases above have a common link - an obscure and malicious app called ClothOff, that promises to do exactly what the name suggests - undress people with AI.
An article by The Guardian revealed several tactics used by the developers to hide their identities - digitally distorting voices to respond to media queries, and using a fictitious, AI-generated face to represent their CEO.
Image of ClothOff CEO Ewam Liam Torres, which The Guardian claims is “very likely AI-generated”
The Guardian conducted an investigation for its newly launched podcast series Black Box, and followed trails from fake businesses registered in London and other parts of Europe, all the way to Belarus and Russia, revealing several names.
Tracking a Telegram account linked to the company led them to a pair of siblings from Belarus named Dasha Babicheva and Alaiksandr Babichau.
The investigation also found links between ClothOff and a London-based company called GGSel, who lists Babichau as an employee along with another individual called Alexander German. The company is named after an Ukrainian national called Yevhen Bondarenko.
The Black Box episode on this investigation will be released next Thursday.
Magician behind Biden robocall
Remember that AI-generated Joe Biden robocall asking New Hampshire Democrats to skip the state’s presidential primaries?
Turns out, a magician from New Orleans called Paul Carpenter made the audio clip using ElevenLabs’ voice cloning app.
Speaking to NBCNews, Paul said it cost him $1 and less than 20 minutes to make the audio clip. The task was commissioned to him by Steve Kramer - a political consultant who worked for Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips - for $150.
Speaking to CBS News, Kramer said he distributed the Biden robocall to draw attention to the problem of using AI in political campaigning, and push the Federal Communications Commission, along with state and federal governments, to regulate its usage.
Days later, New York City Councilmember Julie Menin introduced a new bill to criminalise the use of AI to influence local elections.
More Resurrections
After late DMK supremo Karunanidhi was resurrected using AI, we have seen yet another resurrection.
Rival party AIADMK also resurrected their late supremo Jayalalitha, creating an AI-generated voice clip.
The AI-generated voice of the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister asked for support from the people to bring their government back to power.
India is not the only country engaging in such resurrections. Few weeks ago, the Lincoln Project - an anti-Trump Republican political action committee - created an AI-generated video of Donald Trump’s late father Fred Trump to attack the former president and current Republican frontrunner.
The ghost of Fred lashed out at his son, saying, “Donny, I always knew you'd blow it. I bailed you out so many times. Your deals were all garbage. You couldn't even make money off a casino, you fuck up. I'm ashamed you have my name."
The clip was shared by Lincoln Project, after Trump wrongly accused it of using AI-generated videos of his gaffes during his time as president.
Quiz Time!
Deepfakes have been going around for a while now, and chances are you have already come across a few.
Axios and Guardian recently came up with quizzes to test whether people are able to distinguish between AI-generated images and audio clips, respectively, from the real ones.
Try Axios’ quiz on AI-generated images here: How to spot deepfakes created by AI image generators
Try The Guardian’s quiz on AI-generated audio here: AI call quiz: see if you can spot the sham audio of Trump and Biden | US elections 2024 | The Guardian
Have you been a victim of AI?
Have you been scammed by AI-generated videos or audio clips? Did you spot AI-generated nudes of yourself on the internet?
Decode is trying to document cases of abuse of AI, and would like to hear from you. If you are willing to share your experience, do reach out to us at [email protected]. Your privacy is important to us, and we shall preserve your anonymity.
About Decode and Deepfake Watch
Deepfake Watch is an initiative by Decode, dedicated to keeping you abreast of the latest developments in AI and its potential for misuse. Our goal is to foster an informed community capable of challenging digital deceptions and advocating for a transparent digital environment.
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