Deepfake porn has become an alarming trend today, and it has raised questions about the morality of indulging in sexual fantasies and watching these videos. This dilemma is exemplified by the recent scandal involving a celebrity gamer accidentally exposing deepfake porn videos featuring his colleagues during a Twitch livestream.
Deepfakes are media altered by artificial intelligence (AI) commonly to superimpose a person’s face onto an actor in a movie or video clip. Sadly, its primary function has been to create pornographic material of female celebrities, which raises concerns about the nonconsensual nature of these videos.
The pervert’s dilemma lies in differentiating between consuming deepfake pornographic material and indulging in sexual fantasies in one’s mind. Although sexual fantasies are considered morally neutral, consuming deepfakes is frowned upon, even though both are virtually-generated images. This raises the question of whether there is a morally relevant distinction to justify this assessment.
The difficulty in identifying where the crime lies has forced us to consider our moral attitudes towards deepfakes and sexual fantasies. We need to maintain consistency in our morality around these two issues and re-evaluate how we view them.
As deepfake technology continues to progress, anyone with a picture of your face can turn it into a pornographic video. The onus rests on individuals to exercise restraint and avoid engaging in the consumption of these videos, which has downstream effects that could harm the reputations and well-being of friends.
While it may be challenging to distinguish between sexual fantasies and deepfake consumption, it is imperative to err on the side of caution, especially when the material’s production is nonconsensual. As we navigate this moral dilemma, it is essential to keep the conversation going and keep searching for solutions to ensure that technology does not overpower our moral compass.
