The blind spot of nudity apps

Apps that can play with women’s images downloaded over 705 million times, generated around $117 million revenue

- SUGANDHA MUKHERJEE

THE SAME ARTIFICIAL intelligence tools built to help users generate creative videos, avatars and digital art are increasingly being used for something far more like a nightmare — creation of non-consensual sexualised images of women and girls.

These tools work on demand, triggered by plain language prompts that can be as simple as a few keywords. At first glace, they do not look dangerous, as they come disguised as playful creative apps, with taglines such as "make your cat talk in five seconds". Unlike the traditional adult content that requires deliberate searching, age gates or explicit opt-ins, these apps sit openly in our phone app stores, often in the same scroll as a Disney racing game or a maths app for kids.

That is the central finding of a recent investigation by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), which examined the growing number of AI-powered ‘undressing’ apps available on Apple's and Google's app stores. The report shows how consumer-facing AI can quickly turn corrosive when guardrails fail and how easily such tools can fall into the hands of children.