Technology

First, I never intended to get this far into a debate on this topic. My original comment was meant as a somewhat dark joke ("no one would want to see that anyway" being the subtext) that everyone took super seriously and I like to go with the conversational flow so now here we are.

Second, I don't think framing someone for sexual abuse of a minor is in the same category as fake nudes. No one is going to prison (under current laws) for possessing nude pictures as long as both parties are in the same age cohort from a legal perspective. That's a pretty significant distinction in my opinion.

Third, I don't believe I said or implied that fake images cannot cause harm. I said on more than one occasion that you can only control your reaction to them. The fact that they were created and distributed without your consent sucks, but what are you going to do about that after the fact? I'm a very utilitarian person and I see no utility in feeling sorry for myself so that's not a behavior I generally engage in. Other people probably feel differently about that and that's fine. I might seem cold to them and they might seem whiny to me. Different strokes.

You don't know me so starting a rumor about me might be harder without a personal connection to my social circle, but most fake nude stories I've heard about are within schools where both parties know each other and are similar ages. That's functionally very similar to a rumor except there's a compelling reason to believe the person saying it's fake now that AI image generators are a thing. Yes, it still sucks, but people making stuff up is also not new. Humans lie and that's a part of life that most people have serious encounters with at one point or another. I don't know that I think deep fakes are any more or less damaging than the other forms of that behavior that have historically been common. You might be on to something in regards to CSM but there's parallels to other kinds of false accusations in that area as well.