Nudify app proliferation shows naked ambition of Apple and Google
Researchers with the Tech Transparency Project found all sorts of apps that let users create fake non-consensual nudes of real people
The mobile app emperors have no clothes. Apple and Google have made millions of dollars from AI apps that let users undress people even as both companies claim to ban such software from their stores, according to a new study.
Researchers with the nonprofit Tech Transparency Project found 55 such apps in Google’s Play store and 47 in Apple’s App Store. All told, those apps were downloaded 705 million times and have generated $117 million in revenue, they say. The group published its research on Tuesday in the wake of global outrage over users employed Elon Musk’s AI bot, Grok, to strip people of their clothing. Regulators in the UK have weighed banning the app.
“Grok is really the tip of the iceberg,” Katie Paul, director of Tech Transparency Project, told The Register. “The posts were happening on X so the world could see them. But even more graphic content can be created by some of these other apps which is what really got us into this issue.”
In response to The Register's inquiry, Google said while its investigation is ongoing, it has removed several apps.
"When violations of our policies are reported to us, we investigate and take appropriate action," a Google spokesperson said via email. "Most of the apps referenced in this report have been suspended from Google Play for violations of our policies."
Apple did not reply to an email from The Register seeking comment. According to the investigation, Apple also had sponsored ads, another revenue generator, when users searched for items that should have been banned under its policy, Paul said.
"When you search the word 'nudify' in the App Store, according to their policy, nothing should come up, but not only does Grok come up first, Apple had a sponsored ad for a nudify app," she said. “That app is one of those that they removed after we reached out. Not only was the app on the App Store, Apple was profiting from ads to promote it when people searched the word 'nudify.'"
The Tech Transparency Project tested the free versions of the apps using a clothed AI-generated model, then prompted the apps to render the woman completely or partially nude. With the face-swap apps, TTP tested whether the app would superimpose the face of a fully-clothed woman onto an image of a nude woman. In both cases, they were successful, showing how easy it is to create non-consensual intimate imagery.
The apps were all available as of Jan. 21. However, Apple removed 25 of those apps after the researchers contacted them. Google has suspended several, and said it was mounting a review of the apps that were in its store, Paul said.
This latest report from Tech Transparency Project comes about a month after it found both companies' app marketplaces selling apps developed by entities that were sanctioned by the U.S. government because of their ties to the war in the Ukraine and human rights abuses in China.
In that case, the nonprofit found 52 apps in Apple’s App Store with direct connections to Russian, Chinese, and other companies that are under economic sanctions enforced by the U.S. Treasury Department. All of the apps listed a developer, seller, copyright holder, or other information on their App Store page that matched with a U.S.-sanctioned entity.
That earlier investigation found that the Google Play Store had a similar problem, with 18 apps connected to U.S.-sanctioned organizations, roughly a third of the number identified in the Apple App Store.
Paul said that, after that investigation published in December, both companies pulled the apps and posted jobs for compliance officers to review apps for sanctions.
What’s concerning to Paul is what it means for consumers if Google and Apple are willing to brazenly flout laws that can land them in economic trouble with their home governments.
“That was sanctions. That was an area where there are legal consequences. You can imagine the other harmful apps that are out there where there aren’t legal consequences,” Paul said. “With the nudify apps, we found a lot of concerning issues with both app stores. What’s really concerning is that some of these apps were marketed for children ages 9 and up. These aren’t just being marketed to adults, but they’re are also being pushed to kids.”
Another concern: data privacy laws in China that require companies to hand over data to that government.
“When it comes to nudify apps, that means these non-consensual nude images of American citizens would be in the hands of the Chinese government,” Paul said. “So that’s a major privacy violation on top of being a national security risk, particularly if there are political figures who have non consensual nude imagery created of them and then that gets into the hands of the Chinese government.”
Paul said the breakdown appears to lay between policy and moderation. While the policies clearly state these apps are not allowed, in practice they are proliferating.
“We live in a world where we can’t disconnect from this technology,” she told The Register. “These companies market themselves on how safe and trustworthy their app stores are. If you go into their app development pages, they claim to have very stringent review processes – including screening for sanctions – but we don’t see that being applied.” ®