‘Terrifying’: Moment MP showed deepfake nude pic of herself in parliament
A politician has described the “terrifying” moment she bravely fronted parliament with a ‘nude’ image of herself.
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A politician has described the moment she held up a doctored nude image of herself in New Zealand parliament as “terrifying” despite knowing it wasn’t real.
Laura McClure has gained global attention for the brave and shocking act last month where she aimed to draw attention to the danger of AI-generated deepfake pornography.
Holding up a fake nude of herself, Ms McClure told parliament that it took her less than five minutes to make the image online following a quick Google search.
Ms McClure reflected on the moment as “absolutely terrifying” when appearing on Sky News on Tuesday.
She knew it wasn’t real but the image looked so much like her.
“I felt like it needed to be done, it needed to be shown how important this is and how easy it is to do, and also how much it can look like yourself,” she said.
Ms McClure wants to amend current legislation that makes it illegal to share nude photographs without consent to include deepfakes.
“I believe they are just as harmful, if not more, than the real thing because people can put you into all kinds of depraved videos, for example,” she said.
She says the problem isn’t the technology, but rather its misuse.
Targeting the technology “would be a little bit like Whac-A-Mole,” she said.
“You’d take one site down and another one would pop up.”
The issue of deepfakes is particularly a concern among young people.
“Here in New Zealand a 13-year-old, a young 13-year-old, just a baby, attempted suicide on school grounds after she was deepfaked, so it’s not just a bit of fun. It’s not a joke. It’s actually really harmful,” Ms McClure said.
‘Diabolically bad’: Deepfakes in Australian schools
In February an investigation was launched into the online circulation of “vulgar” AI-generated pictures of female students at Melbourne’s Gladstone Park Secondary College.
At the time, it was thought up to 60 students could be affected.
A 16-year-old was quickly arrested and interviewed by detectives but released without charge.
news.com.au can reveal no further arrests have been made in the months since and the investigation remains open.
Last year, AI-generated nude images featuring the faces of at least 50 female students in years 9 to 12 from Bacchus Marsh Grammar were circulated online. A 17-year-old boy was cautioned by police and the investigation was closed.
The Victorian Department of Education states schools are expected to report incidents to police if their students are involved.
Cybersafety expert and former police officer Susan McLean spoke to news.com.au about the issue earlier this year.
Ms McLean said creating sexually explicit, AI-generated images is now as easy as uploading a clothed photo of someone and choosing a pose for an app to then spit out a pornographic image, and it will only become more of a problem.
Sending real or fake nude images of people under the age of 18 is a crime in Australia, but the harsh reality is, “there is nothing any person can do to protect themselves from this,” Ms McLean told news.com.au.
“You have to hope that someone doesn’t choose you to become a victim; you have to hope that the offender doesn’t offend,” she said.
She agrees the focus should not be on trying to fight the apps that create the content.
Instead, she believes in educating young men on respectful and lawful behaviour. That includes being included in comprehensive cybersafety education delivered by experts in schools and parents taking responsibility to instil it into their children at home.
“You have a responsibility to keep your children safe and you have a responsibility to ensure your child is not inflicting harm on someone else,” Ms McLean said.
She says demonising technology and artificial intelligence is not the answer as there are benefits, but “in the wrong hands it’s diabolically bad”.
“The harm to the victims of this crime type is ongoing, it continues, even if the images have been removed, people know they’ve been caught up in it,” Ms McLean said. “They will go over this in their mind time and time again.”
This particular crime type predominantly affecting female students and teachers can be quite gendered, she said, and it shows “the extensive lack of respect that females have to put up with in society”.
“Victims of this crime need a lot of support and consistent and ongoing support. And it is never their fault whatsoever,” Ms McLean said.
“We’ve got to do something to change the mindset of young men who believe this is a good idea to do.”
It is not just parents and schools, Ms McLean said all sections of society had a role to play, such as sports clubs calling out inappropriate remarks about women and girls in the locker room.
NRL women targeted by disturbing deepfakes
Last week, NRL presenter Tiffany Salmond revealed she had been targeted by a deepfake AI attack, with a recent bikini snap doctored into a fake video of her performing explicit acts and uploaded to social media.
Salmond said it was both “surreal” and “shocking”.
“Felt important to speak up on this. Glad it’s opening up a wider conversation,” she said in a video uploaded to Instagram over the weekend.
“I’ll be honest, it was shocking. Having the public profile that I do, especially as a woman working in a male-dominated sport, I’m no stranger to having my looks discussed or being the subject of sometimes perverse conversations.
“But this was the first time it went beyond just chatter.
“To actually see photos of myself – ones I had posted confidently on social media – turned into videos where I’m moving and doing explicit actions, was surreal.
“If deepfakes were purely about attraction, we would see women making them about men, but we don’t – and it’s because in those dynamics, that power imbalance doesn’t exist.
“We live in a society where men can’t get enough of women’s bodies, but it’s only when they get a sneaky view that they weren’t meant to see.”
The disturbing ordeal came just weeks after NRLW star Jaime Chapman revealed she too had been a victim of a deepfake AI attack.
Originally published as ‘Terrifying’: Moment MP showed deepfake nude pic of herself in parliament
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