A recent investigation has uncovered a disturbing trend where AI-powered chatbots on Telegram are being used to generate explicit and nude photos of real people. With millions of users reportedly engaging with these bots monthly, the alarming misuse of technology has created a wave of deepfakes that remove clothing or fabricate sexual activity. The ease of altering photos with just a few clicks has sparked major concerns among experts, particularly about the impact on women and young girls.
According to a report by Wired, over 4 million users are currently using these AI chatbots each month to create harmful deepfakes. Henry Ajder, an expert who discovered these explicit bots on Telegram four years ago, raised alarm over the growing issue. Ajder called the situation “nightmarish,” noting how these tools are not only easy to access but also found on one of the world’s most popular messaging apps.
The damage caused by these bots extends beyond just celebrities like Taylor Swift and Jenna Ortega, who have previously been victims of deepfakes. What’s more troubling is the rising number of teenage girls being targeted, resulting in incidents of sextortion and prolonged abuse. A survey in the U.S. revealed that 40% of students have encountered deepfakes in schools, adding to the gravity of the issue.
The generated images have been used in malicious ways, including by intimate partners as a means of blackmail or abuse. Victims of these deepfakes, especially young girls, face harassment and extortion, with their images manipulated and shared without consent. The ease of creating and distributing these altered images has made Telegram a hotspot for such activity.
Despite the outcry from experts and users, Telegram has remained largely silent. After being contacted by Wired, the chatbots in question suddenly disappeared, but bot creators vowed to quickly launch new ones. This incident has sparked further debate over the responsibility of tech platforms.
Telegram’s CEO, Pavel Durov, has been under scrutiny after facing charges earlier this year for facilitating child pornography on the platform. However, the platform has seen little reform in its operations. Durov, defending the challenges of building technology, remarked, “No innovator will ever build new tools if they know they can be personally held responsible for potential abuse of those tools.”
With the rise of AI-powered deepfake tools and the lack of accountability from tech platforms, the situation is growing more concerning by the day. The safety of women, girls, and other vulnerable groups is at stake as this technology becomes increasingly widespread and accessible.
