As artificial intelligence technology has advanced over the last year, there is increasing concern—and glee—over the idea that AI will remove the need for any real nudity on the internet. It’s so over for those OnlyFans models, the trolls seeking engagement on X, formerly known as Twitter, have said, now that AI allows anyone to create realistic images of small-waisted, big-breasted women.
In fact, AI can not only generate naked images of some curvy blond, but a realistic approximation of a curvy blond with a name and a Social Security number. It’s now possible to upload photos of real people—maybe even someone you know—into a program that will generate a picture of a naked body that bears the face of the person in question. By virtue of having an online presence and a few decent photos of yourself, you, too, may one day have X-rated images created of you.
As Hany Farid, image forensics expert and professor at University of California, Berkeley told 404 Media in August, the latest AI technology and access to it has democratized so-called deepfakes to a frightening degree. “The threat has moved from anyone with a large digital footprint to anyone with even a modest digital footprint,” he told 404. “And, of course, now that these tools and content are being monetized, there is even more incentive to create and distribute them.” A quick Google will surface dozens of websites claiming to do this.
I was curious whether these products were as accurate as they claimed, and it seemed like the only real way to assess that was to test it on the body I know best: my own. I went to a website that explained that the ideal picture would be full-body, well-lit, in somewhat formfitting clothing that contrasts well with the person’s skin. (In other words, something you would find on the average woman’s Instagram account.) I uploaded a mirror selfie I’d already posted on X, and after waiting for 30 seconds or so, the original image was replaced by a highly blurred photo that implied a naked body. To see the final product, I had to pay up. $36.50 got me the Standard Plus: access to 110 uploads and two differently trained AI models the site called “nudifers.” The latest model, v2, claimed to offer “better breasts,” “better lighting prediction,” and “smoother skin” for an additional $6.55. For the chance to see an allegedly superior version of my own tits, this seemed like a bargain.
The result: my face, hair, arms, and hands, affixed to a bare torso, pelvis, and legs that looked like maybe, in some universe, they belonged to me. The breasts in v1, despite the site’s claims, look a bit more accurate, though the quality of the image made with v2 overall is higher. There, my stomach has some definition, the curvature of my ribcage is faintly visible, the nipples—while larger than my own—appear natural. I look, overall, pretty good. Hot, even. Most importantly, to the untrained eye, the images—v2 in particular—could pass as authentic.
The thing is, anyone who has ever consensually, pleasurably received or sent a nude knows that the point is never just to see any naked body. It’s to see a specific naked body. The deepfakes were decent, but ultimately a cheap facsimile. The reality, frankly, looks hotter. This isn’t just a matter of ego—it’s about the supremacy of the real. This is true even if the images that the site generates look “better” than their actual bodies. Maybe the software doesn’t account for the fact that beneath a woman’s clothing is two unevenly sized breasts, or an endearing birthmark. It’s the secrets of your body that make it so exciting to share, and these details, be they on my body or someone else’s, are what makes us “us.” That counts for something, even if the AI accelerationists and doomers say otherwise.
Despite its endless possibilities, AI tech doesn’t replace human thought or the human body—it elevates the real thing. In a landscape where so much may not be real, what actually exists is all the more valuable. This is particularly relevant with the nude. What good does it do to see what I might look like naked? AI is never going to be able to guess the precise shape of my breasts, their distance apart, which Pantone color number most closely matches the rouge of my areola.
Of course, missing out on the finer details isn't actually a big deal to many of the people who use these tools. Many will be content to settle for a deepfake over nothing at all. Moreover, some people want to look at deepfake nudes because it’s wrong, because they don’t have the subject’s permission. As the MIT Technology Review reported in 2021, nonconsensual porn is already harming people—overwhelmingly women. Often, the women featured did nothing more than have a presence online, as any of us are entitled to do. And in 2020, MIT also reported that deepfake websites were increasingly being used to create images of underage girls. In the three years that have passed since, the technology underlying these websites has only improved.
But the use of AI for illegal and unethical creations is a different problem, stemming from different desires, than the basic lust to see a specific individual naked. This is something that deepfakes cannot entirely fulfill. The AI version of my body looks just fine, maybe even sexy. But it still isn’t my body, or anyone else’s. The AI model doesn’t know about my belly button piercing, or that I don’t, in fact, have my pubic hair shaved bald. And even if it could generate an image that featured these traits, it still wouldn’t look exactly right. The only real way of knowing what someone’s body looks like naked is to make eyes at a bar, or send a risky text, and see it for yourself.
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