About one in fifteen adults has experienced abuse involving AI-generated images, according to a new study. UNN reports this, citing Phys.org.
Details
A survey of more than 7,200 adults in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia found that 7% of them had experienced at least one form of abuse involving AI-generated images after turning 18.
This included creating or altering an intimate image involving them with the help of AI without their consent, distributing an AI-generated intimate image without their consent, or threatening to distribute such an image.
Nearly 87% of those affected reported at least one consequence of this phenomenon in their lives, including an impact on their health and well-being, relationships, work or finances.
The study's lead author, Nicola Henry, a professor at RMIT University in Australia, conducted the research with support from Google and said the findings demonstrate the scale of abuse across society as a whole.
"We now have evidence of how widely image-based abuse involving AI-generated images affects people across society as a whole, not just celebrities and public figures," she said.
"The true scale may be even greater, because some people may never find out that AI-generated images were created or distributed," she added.
Higher rates of AI-generated-image abuse were recorded among people under 35, members of racial and ethnic minorities, men and people with disabilities.
Men reported instances of abuse more than twice as often as women: 10.2% compared with 3.8%.
However, women reported more negative reactions and consequences, including fear for their safety and an impact on their mental and physical health. This may reflect broader gender inequality, stigma and safety risks that women face disproportionately more often.
Henry said the findings show that anyone can be affected by this abuse, but both the risk of experiencing it and its consequences are unevenly distributed.
"As generative AI becomes increasingly accessible, the potential for misuse of these tools to create, distribute or threaten to distribute intimate images without consent is growing," she said.
"We do not yet know how quickly this is leading to an increase in the number of victims," she noted.
The latest findings, published in the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, are based on two previous studies that use the same international dataset.
One previous study found that 3.2% of respondents reported creating, distributing or threatening to distribute AI-generated sexual images without consent.
Among those who distributed the material, the most frequently cited motivation was "for fun or as a joke."
Another study found that nearly one in five adults had intentionally viewed AI-generated sexual images involving real people, excluding those who did so solely to report or remove the material.
Henry said the study's findings strengthened the case for greater responsibility on the part of technology companies to prevent abuse involving AI-generated images before it occurs.
Co-author Dr. Rebecca Umbach, a staff user experience researcher at Google, said the study's findings provided important new evidence of this form of abuse.
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For reference
Abuse, according to the definition provided by social services representatives, is any form of violence or mistreatment that harms a person's physical, psychological, emotional or financial well-being. It does not always involve physical injuries; abuse can be hidden.