A group of sex industry professionals and advocates issued an open letter to EU regulators on Thursday, claiming that their views are being overlooked in vital discussions on policing AI technology despite also being implicated in AI’s momentous rise.
In response to European internet regulations, a collective of adult industry members—including sex workers, erotic filmmakers, sex tech enterprises, and sex educators—urged the European Commission to include them in future negotiations shaping AI regulations, according to the letter, seen by WIRED.
The group includes erotic filmmaker Erika Lust’s company as well as the European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance campaign group, and is signed the Open Mind AI initiative. The group aims to alert the commission of what it says is a “critical gap” in discussions on AI regulation. Those coordinating the campaign say that current discussion strategy risks excluding first-hand perspectives on adult content and overregulating an already-marginalized community.
“AI is evolving every day [and] we see new developments at every corner,” said Ana Ornelas, a Berlin-based erotic author and educator who goes by the pseudonym Pimenta Cítrica, and who is one of the leaders of the initiative. “It is natural that people will turn to this new technology to satisfy their fantasies.”
But deepfakes are now a major AI threat. Ninety six percent of them feature nonconsensual “porn,” mostly of women and girls. It is “extremely harmful” to those targeted, as well as to porn performers, says Ornelas. “It’s a threat both to their human integrity and their livelihood,” she adds. “But the way the landscape is posed, adult content creators, sex workers, and educators are getting the shorter end of the stick on both sides of the spectrum.” She says that she fears banishing all adult content will sweep legitimately created content away with nonconsensual material and push people to AI models with no filters at all.
On August 1, the European Commission introduced what it called the world’s first comprehensive legislation on AI. The aim, it said, is to cultivate responsible use of AI across the bloc. It followed earlier EU legislation policing illegal and harmful activities on digital platforms. But the initiative’s organizers say regulators don’t understand the adult industry, risking censorship, draconian measures, and misunderstandings.
“We can offer the right insight to policymakers so they can regulate in a way that safeguards fundamental rights, freedom, and fosters a more sex-positive online environment,” says Ornelas.
A spokesperson for the European Commission told WIRED it values “diverse perspectives” and encouraged adult industry representatives to participate in its public consultations, including one upcoming on “unacceptable risks or prohibitions.”
Sex workers and porn performers have already reported censorship and discrimination linked to global legislation clamping down on sex trafficking and banks limiting their services. Adult industry members, including sex educators, have also had to grapple with suspensions and removals from tech platforms.
“There’s a lack of awareness of how policies impact our livelihoods,” says Paulita Pappel, an adult filmmaker and an organizer of the initiative. “We are facing discrimination, and if regulators are trying to protect the rights of people, it would be nice if they could protect the digital rights of everyone.”
The industry is also already at a disadvantage in utilizing AI, adds Ornelas. Major generative AI platforms generally do not allow NSFW content, as part of controls for moderating what is widely termed inappropriate content. ChatGPT creator OpenAI, however, says it is considering how to “responsibly provide the ability to generate NSFW content in age-appropriate contexts.”
Establishing AI policy that meets everyone’s needs and includes children’s safety—which has been particularly visible in global tech regulation discussions—is a delicate balancing act, as regulators move to keep youngsters from seeing pornographic content. One example is the UK’s controversial Online Safety Act, which aimed to force tech companies to keep children safe on their services and platforms.
The UK also opened a call for evidence on pornography regulation in January, focusing on online pornography. A similar format, Pappel says, could improve AI regulations in the EU.
Those driving the Open Mind AI initiative who spoke to WIRED also recognized the need to protect young people from seeing age-inappropriate content. “We’re on the same side, we want the same things,” says Ornelas. “Safe content and to be protected.”
The adult industry faces challenges not just in AI but in internet safety overall, says Barry O’Sullivan, a professor and founding director of the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics at University College Cork, Ireland. He says other issues that need to be addressed include age verification and safety tech.
The European Commission opened a public consultation in 2020 ahead of its AI rules and has hosted other targeted consultations, including for the financial industry and “general-purpose AI.” It has also hosted roundtables on tech regulation with tech industry stakeholders, including on its implementation of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA).
But as it stands, regulatory discussions fall short when it comes to considering the adult industry the same way as the commission does other online stakeholders, says Alessandro Polidoro, a digital rights activist and independent attorney coordinating the Digital Intimacy Coalition, which the Open Mind AI group is a part of.
“There’s a blind spot in digital regulation right now between the adult industry and AI policy,” he adds. “There are issues that have been completely ignored and overlooked and must be added to the dialog.”
While tech regulation can take years to crystallize–the EU’s AI rulebook entered into force more than three years after its proposal in April 2021—those leading the push for representation are optimistic. The European Commission designated major porn sites enforceable under the Digital Services Act, which regulates large online platforms, in December 2023—after, the Digital Intimacy Coalition says, the coalition sent an open letter.
"The European Commission has been commendable in maintaining an open dialog with different actors in the digital world, especially during the implementation of recent EU tech laws,” says Polidoro.
“We need to find a sweet spot, and it can only happen with a two-way conversation.”
Update 9/19/24 4:00 pm EST: This story has been updated to include a comment from the European Commission.
