WASHINGTON, DC (August 1, 2024) – The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) has called on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to forbid the use of any OpenAI model or tool for the generation of “NSWF”* material to stem additional, substantial harm caused by the misuse of AI tools. Recently, OpenAI announced a potential policy shift to allow the “ethical” creation of “NSFW” content.
NCOSE has outlined its findings and recommendations for OpenAI in a new Rapid Assessment Report, The High Stakes of AI Ethics: Evaluating OpenAI’s Potential Shift to “NSFW” Content and Other Concerns.
“The impact of AI on the field of sexual abuse and exploitation prevention has already been catastrophic. Misuse of AI tools has unleashed massive sexual harm, affecting thousands of people who will suffer the consequences for their entire lives. AI is spurring the creation of AI-generated CSAM and sexualized imagery of children; AI-generated ‘nudifying’ apps which strip women and girls of their clothes in photos are proliferating on sites such as Reddit; and uncensored and loosely moderated AI chatbots pose the risk of automating child grooming at scale,” said Dawn Hawkins, CEO, National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
“OpenAI’s lack of dataset transparency and its very likely inclusion of sexually explicit material in pre-training and training datasets, its partnership with Reddit, and its proposed ‘NSFW’ rule change are poised to further these harms. Tech companies like OpenAI have an ethical responsibility to ensure their innovations do not perpetuate harm. OpenAI’s leadership must act now to prevent their technology from becoming a tool of sexual exploitation,” Hawkins continued.
“The promise of AI is immense, but so is its potential for abuse. The risks are too great to ignore. Our hope is that OpenAI will agree that allowing AI to further fuel child sexual abuse, image-based sexual abuse, and other forms of sexual abuse and exploitation by devoting the most powerful technology in the world to the generation of ‘NSWF’ material is a grave misuse of the power and promise of AI.”
For more information about Reddit as a mainstream contributor to sexual exploitation see: https://endsexualexploitation.org/reddit/.
On August 6, Hawkins will speak about this new report at the Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation Global Summit, the theme of which is “The Great Collision: Emerging Tech, Sexual Exploitation and the Ongoing Pursuit of Dignity.”
*NCOSE finds that OpenAI’s use of the term “NSFW” is deeply problematic. This euphemistic expression masks reality—content that depicts hardcore sex, sexual violence, racism, gore, and other forms of abuse. OpenAI has yet to define what they mean by “NSFW.”
About National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)
Founded in 1962, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national non-partisan organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health harms of pornography. https://endsexualexploitation.org/
