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Pornhub says it will ban 'deepfake' AI-edited videos

The site wants nothing to do with nonconsensual porn.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Is the thought of AI-generated fake porn (aka "deepfakes") disturbing to you? You're not the only one. Pornhub has informed Motherboard that it will ban videos that use machine learning to superimpose faces on porn actors. The company forbids "any nonconsensual content," and this certainly qualifies -- more often than not, the face's owner didn't give permission. Pornhub put it on the same level as revenge porn.

Whether or not the company can completely put a stop to it is another matter. Motherboard said it found "dozens" of AI-based porn videos on the site, many of which were explicitly labeled as "deepfake" and mentioned celebrities. It would be difficult to completely eliminate these user-uploaded clips (just ask the many game and TV studios whose content is, er, misused), but it's clear that there's some room for improvement.