meme-review
Atrioc's Deepfakes And 'It's So Over' — A Look Back At The Week AI Pornography Discourse Took Over The Internet
In the movie world, there's a phenomenon called Twin Films in which, for whatever reason, two movies with similar plots come out at the same time (think the two or three versions of Pinocchio that came out last year).
A similar phenomenon struck this week in which two otherwise unrelated stories made AI porn the hot-button issue of late January 2023. As you may know by this point, Twitch streamer Atrioc got caught purchasing deepfake porn of his friends earlier this week. While that was going on, another section of the internet was debating just how prevalent AI could become in the pornography industry.
Both situations landed in some grey, murky territory, as AI has been challenged for its ethics in many fields, but now that discourse about AI in porn has shot to the forefront of social media, many have attempted to hash out what it means that computers seem pretty close to making realistic hot babes who have sex.
The Beginning
The week began when Twitter user @heartereum grabbed some hot babes off /r/unstable_diffusion and gleefully declared women were "SEETHING" about how realistic they were. "It's SO over," they cheerily said while showing some AI babes.
It became clear pretty quickly that women weren't "SEETHING" about the AI girls, but the verisimilitude of these ladies brought up an interesting question: is the appeal of pornography just looking at hot people doin' it, to the point where the hot people don't even have to be people?
Many people, particularly those who have worked in or around the sex industry, didn't feel particularly threatened by AI porn for various reasons. Many pointed out that people seek out pornography not just for hot babes but for the parasocial relationship they have with the performer. It seemed that no matter how advanced AI became, it wouldn't threaten the appeal of "interacting" (in some form or another) with a real human being.
Furthermore, there is already a wide swath of made-made pornography that doesn't feature actual people all over the internet (there's a reason Rule 34 exists, after all). Some contended that AI-women join a long list of women in drawings and CGI videos that merely form another niche in the wide sea of pornography available online. After all, if one wants to see "big boobs," they certainly don't need to turn to AI to get their wish.
Lastly, if there really are worried sex workers out there, they can be soothed by the fact that AI still has a tremendous problem with hands.
The Atrioc Controversy
In the midst of the discourse surrounding women "SEETHING" over AI women supposedly erasing the need for pornography, a Twitch streamer made actual women seethe because it was revealed he had purchased deepfake pornography that used their likenesses.
Atrioc got caught mid-stream with a tab open to a website that featured deepfake pornography of other famous Twitch streamers like Pokimane, Maya Higa and QTCinderella. What followed was a barrage of jokes and discourse, all of which was certainly not aided by Atrioc jumping on Twitch to tearfully apologize about the incident with his wife.
Twitch streamer Atrioc issued an apology after accidentally revealing that he watched deepfake videos of streamers Pokimane and Maya pic.twitter.com/oEjHnGS3Ax
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) January 30, 2023
Atrioc said he discovered the site by following an internet rabbit hole and was not regularly looking at pornography featuring popular streamers. Still, the damage had been done, and as one might imagine, this made the women Atrioc was caught "peeping" at furious, particularly because several knew him personally.
Atrioc eventually offered a much more composed apology in which he promised to work to get the site he was looking at and others like it off the internet, but the fiasco led to questions about the ethics of deepfake pornography.
Some argued the technology was akin to merely fantasizing about the celebrity, since they were not involved in the creation of the porn. Others said it wasn't all that different from Googling "X celebrity naked" and getting a picture of that celebrity's face on top of a naked body.
Others harshly condemned this line of thinking because, the creepiness of searching AI porn of one's friends aside, the women involved did not consent to being shown in that manner and the creation of deepfake porn using their likeness amounts to slander. The creation of deepfake porn is illegal in several states and a bill to make it illegal is working its way through the UK.
What All This Means
Humanity will certainly have to grapple with the ramifications of A.I. pornography in the coming years, but for the moment, it seems few are particularly worried that it will kill pornography as we know it. More concerning is where AI porn and actual human beings intersect. AI generates pornography by learning from actual human models, and these models are not consenting to or being compensated for their faces being used. Furthermore, deepfake pornography seems well on its way to getting restricted further as more legislatures in the United States and around the world outlaw its creation.
While AI may eventually get to a place where it can create competent pornography, it seems there's little reason to seek it out beyond novelty when there's plenty of legal, and in many cases, free pornography available across the web.
For more information, check out the Know Your Meme articles for AI porn and Atrioc's deepfake controversy.
