AI ‘nudify’ apps turn back-to-school photos into explicit images, experts warn
As students head back to classrooms, parents are again snapping those first-day-of-school photos. But in an era of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence, a seemingly harmless image can be turned into something deeply disturbing in less than a minute.
So-called “nudify apps” use AI to transform photos of fully clothed people into realistic nude or pornographic images with just a few taps on a screen. The technology has proliferated in recent years, and law enforcement officials say children are among the most vulnerable targets.
Roughly half of U.S. teens say they have seen AI-generated pornography, according to Common Sense Media, a nonprofit focused on kids’ online safety. Of those, one in four says the content featured themselves or someone they know.
The same research found that one in five teens admitted to making AI porn, and one in four has shared it or knows someone who has. The apps are widely available, with some carrying no age restrictions at all.
CBS News recently tested the capabilities of such tools after previous reporting found hundreds of ads for nudify apps on Meta’s platforms. Last year, Meta removed a number of those ads following a CBS News investigation.
In the latest review, CBS News identified dozens of apps on Google Play and Apple’s App Store and fed fully clothed AI-generated images of an adult woman and an adult man into 70 photo-editing apps. Nineteen of the apps altered the photos to create disturbing images and videos containing nudity and explicit sexual content.
The names of the apps and the specific search terms used to locate them are not being disclosed. But the process can be frighteningly simple.
In one case, a user only had to highlight the area of the photo to change, type in a prompt such as “make nude,” and wait less than 30 seconds for a startlingly realistic image to appear.
What complicates the problem is access. Most of the apps are rated for adults, but some are considered suitable for teens, and a few have no age restrictions.
Michelle DeLaune, president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said tech companies need to step up.
“App stores do have a responsibility for the apps that they are making available to the public. So it’s absolutely critical that there are vetting procedures to know what exactly is being marketed and what that tool does in reality,” she told CBS News.
After CBS News made Google and Apple aware of the apps, most were removed. Apple said it had already “proactively rejected many of these apps and removed many others, including when users have flagged them via our reporting tools.” Apple added that its developer guidelines prohibit overtly sexual or pornographic content and require a method for filtering objectionable user-generated content.
Google said its Play store does not allow apps containing sexual content and that it continually takes proactive steps to detect and remove harmful apps. The company said it has already suspended hundreds of violating apps.
In Austin, Texas, Detective Javier Rodriguez of the Austin Independent School District Police Department is training school resource officers to recognize these high-tech threats. He said AI has made it easier for abusers to target children.
“Children face a lot of types of online sexual exploitation, whether it be online solicitation, child sexual abuse material or sextortion. AI’s just made it that much easier to perpetrate those types of crimes against our kids,” he told CBS News.
Rodriguez says the perpetrators are often classmates of the victim, not anonymous strangers lurking in the dark corners of the internet. Depending on the case, consequences can range from a misdemeanor citation to a felony with jail time.
DeLaune said parents can be a powerful line of defense.
“The best advice is to talk to the kids in your life. Ask them questions about how they’re using AI. How are their peers using AI? Do they know of a situation like this that has happened in their school or to one of their friends?” she said.
Rodriguez echoed the need for open conversations, especially when a child makes a mistake.
“Parents should know that their kids are going to make mistakes, and it’s okay if they make a mistake. But you have to be that trusted adult in your child’s life that when your child does make a mistake, you got to let them know that, ‘hey, I’m here with you, I’m going to help you navigate this, and we’re going to get through this together,’” he said.
Schools also play a role. Five of the 10 largest U.S. school districts have policies with action plans for responding to such incidents and specify when to involve law enforcement. Five districts did not respond to multiple requests for comment from CBS News.
The growing availability of these tools has intensified concerns among child safety experts, who say the images can be used for harassment, extortion and sextortion. As students and parents share more photos online, the risk of misuse is no longer hypothetical.
If this happens to your child, immediately reach out to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at cybertipline.org or 1-800-843-5678. They have counselors to help you and coordinate with social media companies to get the content permanently removed and will work with law enforcement on your behalf.