You don’t need to be a computer expert to create fake sexual content using artificial intelligence tools. A simple search on social media or any search engine will turn up applications and tutorials that explain, step by step and in great detail, how to create fake sexual images, videos, or audio recordings.

The popularization of artificial intelligence has transformed what was once a marginal practice into an increasingly widespread phenomenon with a very negative impact on its victims. Fake sexual content is a new form of digital violence that can seriously damage the reputation and privacy of victims, as well as violate their right to control their own image.

Type of sexual forgeries

Sexual deepfakes , also known as sexual ultrafakes , are images, videos, or audio manipulated with artificial intelligence tools that depict a person in erotic or sexual situations. Their remarkable ability to mimic reality makes them difficult to distinguish from authentic content at first glance, even though the person depicted has never participated in these scenes nor authorized their creation.

Some manipulations are so subtle as to go unnoticed (for example, shortening a skirt or increasing the neckline of a t-shirt), while others recreate extremely explicit sexual scenes. In the absence of a universally accepted classification, expert reports distinguish the following types:

1. Suggestive or sexualized images: digital alterations that seek to sexualize a person’s image without necessarily showing explicit nudity.
2. Fake kisses: videos that make you believe that two people are kissing on the mouth when, in reality, this situation has never happened.
3. Fake audios ( deepvoices ): recordings generated or manipulated using artificial intelligence that imitate a person’s voice to attribute sexual comments to them that they never made.
4. Artificial nudes ( deepnudes ): images created from ordinary photographs. Artificial intelligence predicts what the person’s naked body would look like and generates a completely fictitious image.
5. Face swap : superimposing a person’s face (obtained from an ordinary photograph) onto the body of another person appearing in pre-existing sexual images or videos.
6. Creating sex videos from scratch: in these cases, it is not necessarily based on a specific photograph of the victim, but rather artificial intelligence generates a person or a complete scene from large volumes of training data.

There are more and more

A large proportion of sexual deepfakes are spread through private channels or platforms that are difficult to track, and many victims never file an official complaint with the relevant authorities, making it difficult to know how many people have been victims of them.

Even so, some specialized research concludes that sexual deepfakes are increasing exponentially. For example, a report by Security Hero estimated that 98% of deepfake videos circulating online are sexual in nature and primarily affect women.

In Spain, relatively alarming data is also beginning to emerge. In a study by the Reina Sofía Center and FAD Joventut , conducted with young people between 16 and 29 years old, around one in ten respondents admitted to having created a deepfake or knew someone in their immediate circle who had done so.

False content, but not harmless

One of the most common mistakes is thinking that, because the images or videos are fake, the harm is practically nonexistent. However, the impact doesn’t depend on the authenticity of the content itself, but rather on the violation involved in using a face to recreate a sexual scene without the explicit consent of the person depicted.

The dissemination of this content can lead to situations of isolation and make the victim the object of jokes, rumors or harassment .

Prevent both victimization and exploitation

The rapid pace of artificial intelligence evolution makes it essential to promote educational initiatives from an early age . However, preparing students is not enough if teachers lack the necessary knowledge and tools to address this phenomenon.

Even today, many teachers express insecurity about the possibility of addressing sexual deepfakes in the classroom, either because they feel they lack sufficient training, or because they fear generating controversy with families or arousing students’ interest in these practices.

When this topic is addressed, it’s usually limited to slogans like “don’t send photos” or “use your phone less,” which are completely insufficient. The educational challenge is much deeper and requires developing skills related to empathy, consent, digital privacy, and responsibility.

Along these lines, our research team is developing and evaluating the effectiveness of a training program for primary school teachers. Based on our experience, we can make the following recommendations:

1. Helping students understand the consequences of manipulating another person’s image. Activities such as creating awareness campaigns or analyzing real cases, like the one in Almendralejo (Badajoz) , or spreading fake sexual content, is not a joke, but a form of digital violence.
2. Developing empathy. In our program, we use activities where students imagine how they would feel if someone altered their image to ridicule them. These activities help them understand emotions like shame and humiliation, enabling them to identify the harm these practices can cause.
3. Addressing the bystanders. Many instances of victimization persist because witnesses remain silent, laugh, or redistribute the content. Case studies inspired by real-life situations (a student receiving a manipulated image via WhatsApp from a classmate, or a student observing how such images circulate within a messaging group) serve as a starting point for discussing which actions contribute to increasing harm and which help protect the victim.

Legislating without educating is not the answer

The rapid spread of sexual deepfakes has sparked a major public debate about the need to adapt legislation to a technological reality that typically advances much faster than existing laws. Having an appropriate legal framework is essential to protect victims and define the responsibilities of those who create or distribute this content.

However, relying solely on the criminal justice system is a major mistake. Experience shows that prohibiting a behavior is not enough to prevent it from occurring . A comparable example is underage drinking, because even though its sale is prohibited, many continue to be regular consumers. Reducing this problem has required a combination of legal measures, awareness campaigns, and, above all, educational programs aimed at promoting more responsible behavior.

Something similar happens with sexual deepfakes . Many children and teenagers have access to tools that can generate fake sexual images or videos with just a few clicks, but few reflect on the social and legal consequences associated with their use. This problem highlights the need to explore new ways of raising awareness in schools, including through science.

Author Bio: Vicente Morell-Mengual is Full Professor. Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology at the University of Valencia