In a new call to action, the Biden administration is urging technology companies and other stakeholders to take voluntary measures to curb the rapidly growing issue of image-based sexual abuse, including abusive content generated using artificial intelligence.
Recognizing that this form of gender-based violence disproportionately harms women, girls and LGBTQI+ people, the White House is advocating for collaboration between the public and private sectors to prevent and mitigate these harms. Specifically, the administration is encouraging companies to make commitments such as:
- Disrupting monetization by restricting payment services to sites enabling sexual abuse imagery, especially of minors
- Stopping creation by curbing web services and apps marketed for making non-consensual sexual images using AI
- Preventing distribution through technical protections against non-consensual image sharing on devices and platforms
- Providing remedies by supporting services that enable survivors to remove abusive content from online platforms easily
The calls build on prior White House efforts like the Task Force on Online Harassment, the AI Bill of Rights, and voluntary AI ethics pledges made by leading tech firms. However, the administration stresses legislation is still needed, calling on Congress to strengthen legal protections and victim resources around image-based abuse.
As AI capabilities rapidly advance, the White House aims to rally industry-wide cooperation to uphold safeguards and prevent egregious technological facilitation of sexual exploitation, “one of the fastest growing harmful uses of AI to-date.”