AI apps that can digitally undress any photo pose back-to-school risk

A sweet back-to-school photo can be more vulnerable to manipulation in the age of artificial intelligence, with bad actors getting their hands on AI-enabled apps that let them take an innocent photo and sexualize it — all that's required is a photo of someone even fully clothed.

So-called "nudify apps" use AI-generated software to turn photographs of people wearing clothing into naked or pornographic images with just a few swipes on a screen. Artificial intelligence has enabled the rapid rise of such tools, capable of digitally manipulating photos with little effort.

Roughly half of U.S. teens say they've seen AI-generated pornography, according to Common Sense Media, an advocacy group focused on kids' online safety. Of those who have seen AI porn, one in four says it featured themselves or someone they know.

One in five teens even admits to having made AI porn, while one in four has shared it or knows someone who has, Common Sense Media found.

Last year, Meta removed a number of ads promoting nudify apps after a CBS News investigation found hundreds of such advertisements on its platforms.

Recently, CBS News identified dozens of such apps in the Google Play Store and in Apple's App Store and tested their capabilities.

CBS News fed AI-generated images of a fully clothed adult woman and an adult man into 70 different AI photo-editing apps.

Nineteen of the apps altered the photos to create disturbing images and videos, which included nudity and explicit sexual content.

CBS News is not disclosing the names of the apps or the keywords it used to discover them.

But it's very easy to alter a photo. For one app all a user had to do was highlight the area to change, and type in a prompt. For example, you can type in a "make nude" instruction. It took less than 30 seconds to generate a startlingly realistic image.

What's also troubling is how easy it is to access the apps. The majority are rated for adults, but others are deemed suitable for teens, and a few have no age restrictions.

Michelle DeLaune, president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said Apple and Google should protect their users from this content and block any app that could be used to create nonconsensual sexual content.

"App stores do have a responsibility for the apps that they are making available to the public. So it's absolutely critical that there are vetting procedures to know what exactly is being marketed and what that tool does in reality," she told CBS News.

CBS News made Google and Apple aware of the apps, most of which the tech firms have since removed from their stores.