Fake nudes with very real consequences

The creation of hyper-fake, sexually explicit images among young people raises concerns.

The creation of fake nudes using artificial intelligence, using the technique of deepfake, or deepfakeis gaining momentum in secondary schools across the country. A phenomenon with serious consequences for victims, which worries those involved in the field.

In a Montreal high school, members of the administration and teachers receive nude photos of teenage girls from the establishment. They were sent by students of the same year. The images are deceptive. They seem real at first glance. The Montreal City Police Service (SPVM) is opening an investigation. The verdict is in: the images were generated by artificial intelligence from clothed photos of the minor victims. But the faces are real.

Maya Alieh is a detective sergeant and supervisor of the SPVM’s cyberinvestigation module. It was his team that investigated this matter a few years ago. The event was ahead of its time, she said. But since then, many other such cases have been reported in schools. And several experts are sounding the alarm.

“The phenomenon always happens in the same way. I had a similar case this year,” Maya Alieh points out.

For this year alone, the police officer expects the SPVM to receive around 10 to 12 cases of fake nudes created by teenagers and showing one or more teenage girls.

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (CCCP) is also seeing an increase in reports in Canada. Over the past 12 months, there have been 4,000 reports of deep-fake sexually explicit images of minors, including child pornography, sextortion and fake nudes created by teens, according to spokesperson René Morin.

Same observation at the office of the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP). M^e Maxime Ouellette, prosecutor and instigator of the SEXTO project set up in 2016, notes that a “trend is taking hold”. 12 to 18 months ago, he heard little about cases of fake nudes between teenagers.

Recent phenomenon

For me^e Ouellette and M^e Joanny St-Pierre, also a prosecutor at the DPCP, the figures are not yet “alarming”, but the phenomenon is.

The phenomenon is recent and the images are not always recognized as fake. If the images are created but not reported, the figures are not compiled.

“We often have the image of the guy who is a little embarrassed in his basement, who does not dare to come into contact with others,” but this is rarely the case, explains M.^e St-Pierre. According to prosecutors, there are as many reasons for creating these images as there are teenagers. One teenager might download deep-doctored images of his girlfriend “for a laugh”; another, a classmate to harass or intimidate her.

Sites and applications, often free, allowing the creation of this type of image are developing and multiplying; restrictions governing businesses and education for young people are not. “We are rowing against the tide of new technologies,” underlines M^me Alieh.

Some sites or applications were not created for hyperfaking. Others have firewalls. However, the SPVM detective sergeant believes that “young people have no difficulty using the sites”.

According to René Morin, the current phenomenon of fake nudes in our schools is reminiscent of that of sexting in its early days, when it took schools by surprise.

Many consequences

Anxiety, suicidal thoughts, isolation, the perpetual quest to eliminate nude photos on the web: the consequences for victims are as serious as if the photos were real.

The images being first judged to be real, the pressure rests on the shoulders of the victims, explains M^e St-Pierre. The care of victims by schools or the police can take several days, even several weeks, and there are serious consequences.

If fake nudes correspond to child pornography, young people rarely realize that their actions have criminal implications.

Julie Miville-Dechêne is an independent senator and instigator of the federal bill on the exposure of young people to pornography. For her, the popularity of the fake nude phenomenon among adolescents is the direct consequence of the normalization of pornography.

Currently, there is no federal law regulating deep fake photos, audio or video. Bill C-27 on artificial intelligence and Bill C-63 on online harms are in first reading in the House of Commons. These two laws would regulate the phenomenon.

Laurent Charlin, associate professor at HEC Montréal and holder of a Canada-CIFAR Chair in AI, recognizes that it is essential to put laws in place. However, he points out that this does not seem to be enough since countries do not always have the capacity to implement them and prosecute offending companies. “For a long time, we weren’t thinking about ethical artificial intelligence or safeguards,” he explains.

The best way to address the fake nude phenomenon is to educate young people about new technologies and their impact. “In 2024, we should be ensuring the digital security of our children like we are teaching them to swim,” believes M^e St-Pierre.