The small Spanish town of Almendralejo in southwest Spain is in shock after fake nude photos of girls, aged 11 to 17, have been shared and spread on social media. The fake nude photos are said to have been created with the help of an AI program. Pictures of the girls with clothes on were uploaded. The program should then have generated nude images of the girls. – My daughter cries all the time. She already has very low self-esteem, so this is terrible for her, says one of the mothers to TV Español. 30 victims so far – Mom, there are pictures of me topless circulating, María Blanco Rayo tells the BBC. She is the mother of one of the victims, a 14-year-old girl. Blanco Rayo explains that she asked her daughter if she had taken nude pictures of herself. The mothers told Spanish media about what their daughters are now going through. Photo: Tv-E – No, mom. These are fake pictures of girls, and there are other girls in my class that this has happened to as well, the 14-year-old is said to have told his mother. So far, 30 girls have come forward as victims in the case. Investigating the images Spanish police have now started an investigation into the spread of the images. At least eleven local boys have been confirmed involved in the generation, or sharing of the images on WhatsApp and Telegram. The suspects are said to be between the ages of 12 and 14, according to the BBC. – Those of us who have children are very worried, says Gema Lorenzo, who has a 12-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son. Investigators are also investigating an alleged attempt to blackmail one of the victims for money, using a fake photo of her. Javier Izquierdo tells Spanish media that even if the nude pictures of the girls are fake, they are still categorized as child pornography. Photo: Zuma Press Javier Izquierdo heads the Spanish police’s cybercrime against children unit. He tells Spanish media that this type of crime no longer only applies to people who download child pornography from the dark web. – The new challenges we face now are minors who at such an early age have access to the kind of technology used in this case, says Izquierdo. Local community in shock The parents of the 28 girls have started a support group after the revelations. María Blanco Rayo says that her daughter is doing well, but some of the victims will not leave their house. Miriam Al Adib is the mother of one of the other victims in the case. She is a gynaecologist, and has used her social media platforms to put the topic at the center of the Spanish public debate. – We do not know how many children had the images, or whether they have been uploaded to pornographic websites – all of this is something we fear, says Al Adib in a video she has published. Miriam Al Adib is the mother of one of the victims. Adib is a well-known Spanish gynecologist, and has used his platforms on social media to tell what has happened in the small town of Almendralejo. Photo: TV E Almendralejo is a small town with a population of just over 30,000 inhabitants. The images from the otherwise quiet town have made national headlines in Spain. Al Adib says in one of the videos that when you are the victim of a crime, you report it and don’t have to hide from the criminal. – But when it comes to sexual crimes, the victim often feels shame, hides and feels responsible. So I wanted to give that message: It’s not your fault, she asserts. New phenomenon Inga Strümke is an associate professor at NTNU, and has written a book about artificial intelligence. She says it is very easy to use programs that create fake nude photos. – This is what we have seen in the last year, that AI tools have become very accessible, and you don’t need to know anything to be able to use them. You just need to open a browser. Associate professor at NTNU, Inga Strümke, believes AI-generated nude images will become a bigger problem in the future. Photo: Ine Julia Rojahn Schwebs According to her, it is a relatively new phenomenon, and she is unsure whether there are any figures on how extensive this problem is. It is also currently difficult to sanction the generation and dissemination of such images. – The AI-generated images here are going to become more and more realistic. We must not assume that this is a problem that will resolve itself or disappear, explains Strümke.
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Fake nude photos of underage girls made with artificial intelligence shock Spain – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
