More than a month after the world was shocked by AI-generated images of schoolgirls from Spain making the rounds on the internet, the mother of one victim has spoken out.
Miriam Al Adib, whose daughter was one of the many underage victims of the fake nude images scandal, says hundreds of parents have told her their children were also victims.
AI a ‘weapon of destruction’
Talking to Wales Live, Al Adib, said that the combination of access to social media, pornography, and artificial intelligence was a “weapon of destruction”.
In September, Al Adib’s hometown, the small Spanish village Almendralejo made news after more than 20 underage girls — aged 11 to 17, fell victim to a transgression involving indecent images. These images were shared online without their knowledge.
hese images were created using an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool application using which users can ‘take clothes off’ of anyone they have a picture of, that too, for prices as low as €10.
You can read all about the deepfakes incident here.
Al Adib, whose 14-year-old daughter was one of the victims at the time, had described how her distraught daughter told her about it.
“When I came home, one of my daughters, who was really upset, told me: ‘look what they did’. It turns out they took a photo of her, and they made it seem as if she was naked with the aid of artificial intelligence.”
Hundreds reach out
The mother had posted the whole incident on Instagram, where she has thousands of followers. Now, more than a month later, she has revealed that due to a support group, she and a few other parents had created, she got to know that such deepfake porn incidents are not that rare.
“Hundreds of people have written to me saying ‘how lucky you have been (for the support she received) because this same thing has happened to us, it happened to my daughter, or it happened to me, and I haven’t had any support’,” she said talking to Wales Live.
“If any girl is affected, please tell your parents.”
She stated that the support group helped many other victims in Almendralejo come forward.
“This helped many girls to come forward to also say what had happened to them. It is important to know, because many girls are not able do not dare to talk about this with their parents.”
AI a friend or foe?
AI has been making headlines for more than a year. While there are countless positives, there are some major negatives: Deepfakes top the list.
Recently, in India, popular actress Rashmika Mandanna became a victim of such AI-generated deepfakes. A morphed video in which Rashmika’s face was imposed on another woman’s video went viral. The original video shows the woman wearing an outfit with a plunging neckline and posing for a photo.
(With inputs from agencies)
