Naked AI images of young girls horrify mothers in scandal rocking village

24 September 2023 , 08:46

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Concerned parent Miriam Al Adib Mendiri used her strong social media following to thrust the case into the public arena

Parents in Spain are reeling after AI-generated images of naked girls were circulated on social media.

It appears as though the creators lifted photographs from the fully-dressed girls from their social media accounts before running them through an AI platform that imagines the subject without clothes on.

More than 20 girls, aged between 11 and 17, have now come forward to report themselves as a victim of the frightening new technology in the town of Almendralejo, in Spain's southwestern province of Badajoz.

Maria Blanco Rayo, the mum of a 14-year-old schoolgirl, recalled how her daughter came back from school and told her: "Mum there are photos circulating of me topless."

After asking her daughter if she'd taken any intimate photos of herself, she told her: "'No, Mum, these are fake photos of girls that are being created a lot right now and there are other girls in my class that this has happened to as well.'"

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The parents of 28 affected children have set up a support group to help them through the ordeal. At least 11 local boys are said to have been involved in either creating the images or sharing them with others on WhatsApp and Telegram. Some of the suspects are also accused of trying to blackmail a girl with a fake image, reports the BBC.

While some of the girls are continuing as normal, there are some youngsters so traumatised they "won't even leave the house", according to Ms Blanco Rayo. One mother, gynaecologist Miriam Al Adib, has used her strong social media following to raise the alarm about the case and thrust it into the centre of public debate.

"We didn't know how many children had the images, if they had been uploaded to pornographic sites - we had all those fears," she said.

"When you are the victim of a crime, if you are robbed, for example, you file a complaint and you don't hide because the other person has caused you harm. But with crimes of a sexual nature the victim often feels shame and hides and feels responsible. So I wanted to give that message: it's not your fault."

The suspects are aged between 12 and 14, and they could face child pornography charges for creating and sharing the content. They could also be charged with breaching privacy laws. In Spain, children aged under 14 can't be criminally charged.

Ryan Fahey