With the expansion of its capabilities, ethical concerns have increasingly been attached to advanced NSFW AI. The most important ones include the possibility of exploitation and harm, especially in the creation of adult content. According to a report by the World Economic Forum published in 2021, 45% of AI models trained on adult content perpetuated harmful stereotypes and toxic gender roles. Considering that 70% of internet traffic is attributed to adult material, it would beg the question as to how such exposure might influence peoples’ ideas about intimacy, consent, and relationships.
This leads to another important consideration: consent. Traditional pornographic material involves real people who offer explicit consent. However, the generation of nsfw ai alone can create completely synthetic models. The question then is: who gives consent on behalf of the avatars depicted in these creations? In 2020, a lawsuit was filed against a tech company creating AI-generated adult content without the consent of the actors whose likenesses were used. This shows some privacy concerns because AI could create realistic images or videos without knowing the subject or their agreement.
Deepfake technology has only exacerbated these ethical issues. For example, a 2018 report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute showed that more than 90% of all deepfake videos online were sexually explicit, usually exploited for humiliation, severe emotional hurt, and destroying the reputation of a person. With AI becoming increasingly state-of-the-art, there is also a risk that NSFW AI will be used to make harmful or non-consensual content and create more complex dilemmas than ever.
Besides, the accessibility of NSFW AI cannot be left unmentioned. By 2023, the facilities to create adult content using AI had become available literally everywhere, with most bypassing traditional age-verification systems. This increases the access to explicit content by minors and enhances the need for better regulation and monitoring. In 2020, studies showed that over 50% of internet users under 18 had come across adult content online, much of which could include AI-generated material. One of the big challenges facing regulators and tech companies alike will be to ensure that AI-generated adult content does not become readily available to minors.
The other cause for concern is the economic impact of NSFW AI: with forecasts suggesting the global market for AI-powered adult entertainment could be valued at over $30 billion by 2025, human sexuality and relationships risk being turned into commodities since AI-generated content may replace real human interactions. Further, critics argue that this may devalue human contact and intimacy. The more ‘human’ experiences AI can simulate, the more one is to question the role of technology in shaping desires and reconstituting social norms.
But the better that AI gets at nsfw things, the more urgent those questions become. Who is responsible if-or when-such technology gets out of hand or somebody gets hurt? Should technology companies be held liable for whatever someone produces on their platforms? This is a weighty moral dilemma that needs deliberation and regulation to ensure nsfw ai develops in such a way as to minimize harm to other people’s rights and freedoms.