Watchdog Exposes AI Deepfake Nude Apps on App Stores

A watchdog group's investigation has exposed dozens of artificial intelligence-powered applications on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store that enable users to generate nonconsensual deepfake nude images, primarily of women, prompting both companies to remove many of the apps and sparking renewed calls for stricter oversight.

The Tech Transparency Project, a nonprofit focused on digital risks, released its findings on January 27, revealing 55 such apps on Google Play and 47 on the Apple App Store, with 38 available on both platforms. These apps, which use AI to digitally remove clothing from photos or superimpose faces onto nude bodies, had collectively amassed more than 705 million downloads and generated approximately $117 million in revenue through in-app purchases and subscriptions. Apple and Google typically take commissions of up to 30 percent on such transactions, meaning the platforms indirectly profited from the tools despite their policies prohibiting apps that display sexual nudity or pornographic material.

Researchers identified the apps by searching terms like "nudify" and "undress" in the stores and testing them with AI-generated images. Many functioned...