AI undressing websites face legal action as San Francisco files lawsuit

City’s attorney plans to ban 16 AI apps and websites use for the “undressing” the characters in images

SAN FRANCISO:

San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced plans to shut down 16 popular AI “undressing” websites at a press conference on Thursday. Chiu is accusing these sites of violating federal laws related to revenge pornography, deepfake pornography, and child pornography, according to a report by The Verge.

The complaint, filed in a California superior court, also alleges that these sites violate the state’s unfair competition law. The complaint states that “the harm they cause to consumers greatly outweighs any benefits associated with those practices.”

The legal action targets 50 defendants accused of operating these undressing websites. While some defendants' names were redacted, the complaint publicly identifies companies such as Sol Ecom in Florida, Briver in New Mexico, and UK-based Itai Tech Ltd. The only individual defendant named is Augustin Gribinets from Estonia, accused of operating an AI undressing site featuring nonconsensual images of women and children.

These websites have attracted over 200 million visits in six months. The complaint notes that the images “are used to bully, threaten and humiliate women and girls,” with this alarming trend “showing no sign of abating.”

The legal complaint cites a case from February where an AI undressing site created images of 16 eighth-grade students at a California middle school. This incident is possibly linked to a similar case at a Beverly Hills high school, where students were expelled for circulating fake nude images of their peers.

The rise of deepfake technology has raised significant legal concerns, especially at the federal level. Last month, the US Copyright Office called for new legislation in a report on digital replicas. Shortly after, a bipartisan group of senators introduced the NO FAKES Act, which seeks to protect individuals from having their likenesses recreated by AI without consent.