Over half of US teens admit to using AI to create sexual images

(CN) — A new nationwide study suggests artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping how teenagers engage with sexualized imagery. The research, published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One, reports a staggering majority of U.S. teenagers have used AI technology to create sexual images of themselves or others.

Often called nudification apps, these widely available tools use generative AI to alter images of real people and portray what they could look like without clothing. While the mere existence of these programs raises significant legal and ethical issues, their growing use by underage users only further intensifies those concerns.

Inspired by prior research examining the impact of sexualized images on U.S. adolescents, digital behavior expert Chad Steel conducted an online survey of American teenagers in relation to AI-generated sexualized images specifically. Steel, who teaches at Virginia’s George Mason University, has worked in digital forensics for over 20 years and has seen the field shift drastically as AI tools developed.

The survey, conducted anonymously and with parental consent, virtually interviewed 557 English-speaking U.S. residents aged 13 to 17. Participants were encouraged to share their personal experiences with AI-generated sexual images of themselves or others, be it by creating the images, sharing them with friends or even simply viewing and having access to the material.

The results were shocking — 55.3% of the surveyed teens reported they had created at least one sexual image of themselves or others using generative AI. Just over half also said they had been sent similar images by friends.

Steel expressly focused on consent during the study, discovering that 36.3% of respondents had been sent sexual images of themselves that had been fabricated without their consent; 33.2% reported they had experienced at least one of these images being nonconsensually distributed.

No strong differences were apparent between the surveyed demographics, the paper says. But while male and female teenagers both seem to use the technology heavily, male participants did have slightly higher rates of creating and distributing these images.

The findings arrive as real-world consequences of this technology progressively arise in the media. Recent reporting from NPR highlights a lawsuit filed by teenage girls in Tennessee against Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI. The teens claim explicit images of them were generated without their knowledge using AI tools connected to the company. Influencer Ashley St. Clair, who shares a child with Musk, also filed a lawsuit against the company earlier this year over AI-generated images on X that depicted her nude as a teenager.

As generative AI tools capable of producing sexual images present a significant risk of increased exploitation, research into their use could play a crucial role in informing future legislation, guiding educational initiatives and promoting safer practices. Steel is particularly interested in exploring how usage patterns vary across cultures and in contexts beyond the United States.

“Teens are no longer just digital natives, but AI natives,” Steel said. “Nudification and GenAI apps are their new sexting, only with more challenging issues surrounding consent.”