- Nudes, dick pics or other non-consensual sexual images are today very common on dating sites.
- The Once dating app has decided to introduce a new feature based on artificial intelligence to replace penis pictures ... with kittens.
- "Our intention is not to limit exchanges, but simply to protect users within our application and at the same time to raise awareness on the issue of consent," explains Clémentine, founder and CEO of Once.
Online meetings sometimes hold not very pleasant surprises… Nudes, dick pics (penis photo) or other non-consensual sexual images are unfortunately very common on social networks today. To fight against this practice considered to be “version 2.0” of sexual exhibition, the once dating application has decided to set up a new functionality based on artificial intelligence (AI) to “protect” its users.
To avoid being unintentionally exposed to this type of content, the developers of the app have worked on an algorithm which uses AI to analyze all the images sent via the chat and which, when it detects images of explicit nudity, automatically replaces them ... with images of adorable little kittens.
"Raising awareness on the issue of consent"
“Recovering the data necessary to implement this new algorithm was relatively easy. Nude photos are obviously quite common on the Web, and we were able to train the algorithm on millions of nude images and photos to make it as precise as possible, "explains Guillaume Sempé, CTO of Once, in charge of new technologies.
The dating application, specialized in slow dating , does not however veto the sending of this type of content. If the photos received are desired, each user is free to unlock the function and see the original photo. "Users can choose to disable this new feature. Our intention is not to limit the exchanges, but simply to protect the users within our application and at the same time to sensitize them on the question of the consent ”, adds Clémentine, founder and CEO of Once.
Dick picks, a widespread practice
The Once app is not the first to use artificial intelligence to combat the proliferation of dick pics . The US application Bumble, used by more than 50 million people worldwide, has also developed an algorithm capable of automatically locating and hiding this content before it reaches the user.
The dissemination of dick pics or "cyberflashing" [the act of sending a sexual image to a person without their consent] is a practice today widely spread on social networks. According to a study by YouGov, 50% of women under the age of 35 have already received unsolicited explicit content on their dating app. Paradoxically, only 12% of men admit having already sent non-consensual sex photos to a dating app.
By the Web
Why do some men send dick pic, photos of their penis?
Society
"Dick pic", rabbits, and harassment ... A survey reveals the dark side of dating sites
- Social media
- By the Web
- Photo
- Sexual harassment
- Artificial intelligence
- Penis
- Application
- Meeting sites