Researchers have searched the internet for all the AI-generated "deepfake" videos the web has the offer, and (surprise!) most of the content—at 96 percent—is porn.
The AI-modified videos overwhelmingly feature the faces of celebrities swapped onto existing porn clips, according to Deeptrace, an Amsterdam-based company that specializes in detecting deepfakes.
"We also found that the top four websites dedicated to deepfake pornography received more than 134 million views on videos targeting hundreds of female celebrities worldwide," Deeptrace CEO Giorgio Patrini said in a report. "This significant viewership demonstrates a market for websites creating and hosting deepfake pornography, a trend that will continue to grow unless decisive action is taken."
The deepfake porn exclusively targeted women, 99 percent of whom are actresses or musicians, and did so without their consent. Sites including Pornhub, Twitter, and Reddit have already banned the AI-generated porn from their platforms, but these deepfakes can still be easily found online with a quick Google search.
"We found that the deepfake pornography ecosystem is almost entirely supported by dedicated deepfake pornography websites, which host 13,254 of the total videos we discovered," the study said. "By contrast, mainstream pornography websites only hosted 802 videos."
In total, Deeptrace uncovered 14,678 deepfake videos online—which is double the amount from December 2018. The study attributes the growth to the availability of deepfake video-generating tools for free on computer coding sites such as GitHub, in addition to notorious online forums 4chan and 8chan. Although the tools to make deepfakes require some programming knowledge and the sufficient hardware, Deeptrace has also noticed the rise of online marketplace services that specialize in letting anyone create deepfakes in exchange for a fee.
The findings arrive as lawmakers and technology experts are worried the same AI-video-editing technologies will be used to spread propaganda in a US election. In response, California last week signed a new bill into law banning deepfakes of political candidates within 60 days before an election.
However, the study from Deeptrace underscores that the technologies are already being abused to target women by creating non-consensual porn videos. "Deepfakes are here to stay, and their impact is already being felt on a global scale," the company said. "We hope this report stimulates further discussion on the topic, and emphasizes the importance of developing a range of countermeasures to protect individuals and organizations from the harmful applications of deepfakes."