Jessica Guistolise, Megan Hurley and Molly Kelley talk with CNBC in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on July 11, 2025, fake pornographic images and s depicting their faces made by their mutual friend Ben using AI site DeepSwap.Jordan Wyatt | CNBCIn the summer of 2024, a group of women in the Minneapolis area learned that a male friend used their Facebook photos mixed with artificial intelligence to create sexualized images and s.
Using an AI site called DeepSwap, the man secretly created deepfakes of the friends and over 80 women in the Twin Cities region.
The discovery created emotional trauma and led the group to seek the help of a sympathetic state senator.As a CNBC investigation shows, the rise of "nudify" apps and sites has made it easier than ever for people to create nonconsensual, explicit deepfakes.
Experts said these services are all over the Internet, with many being moted via Facebook ads, available for download on the Apple and Google app stores and easily accessed using simple web es."That's the reality of where the nology is right now, and that means that any person can really be victimized," said Haley McNamara, senior vice president of strategic initiatives and grams at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.CNBC's reporting shines a light on the legal quagmire surrounding AI, and how a group of friends became key figures in the fight against nonconsensual, AI-generated porn.Here are five takeaways from the investigation.The women lack legal recourseBecause the women weren't underage and the man who created the deepfakes never distributed the content, there was no apparent crime."He did not break any laws that we're aware of," said Molly Kelley, one of the Minnesota victims and a law student.
"And that is blematic."Now, Kelley and the women are advocating for a local bill in their state, posed by Democratic state Senator Erin Maye Quade, int to block nudify services in Minnesota.
Should the bill become law, it would levy fines on the entities enabling the creation of the deepfakes.Maye Quade said the bill is reminiscent of laws that hibit peeping into windows to snap explicit photos without consent."We just haven't grappled with the emergence of AI nology in the same way," Maye Quade said in an interview with CNBC, referring to the speed of AI development.The harm is realJessica Guistolise, one of the Minnesota victims, said she continues to suffer from panic and anxiety stemming from the incident last year.Sometimes, she said, a simple click of a camera shutter can cause her to lose her breath and begin trembling, her eyes swelling with tears.
That's what happened at a conference she att a month after first learning the images."I heard that camera click, and I was quite literally in the darkest corners of the internet," Guistolise said.
"Because I've seen myself doing things that are not me doing things."Mary Anne Franks, fessor at the George Washington University Law School, compared the experience to the feelings victims describe when talking so-called revenge porn, or the posting of a person's sexual photos and s online, often by a former romantic partner."It makes you feel you don't own your own body, that you'll never be able to take back your own identity," said Franks, who is also president of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, a nonfit organization dedicated to combating online abuse and discrimination.Deepfakes are easier to create than everLess than a decade ago, a person would need to be an AI expert to make explicit deepfakes.
Thanks to nudifier services, all that's required is an internet connection and a Facebook photo.Reers said new AI models have helped usher in a wave of nudify services.
The models are often bundled within easy-to-use apps, so that people lacking nical skills can create the content.And while nudify services can contain disclaimers obtaining consent, it's un whether there is any enforcement mechanism.
Additionally, many nudify sites market themselves simply as so-called face-swapping tools."There are apps that present as playful and they are actually primarily meant as pornographic in purpose," said Alexios Mantzarlis, an AI security expert at Cornell .
"That's another wrinkle in this space."Nudify service DeepSwap is hard to findThe site that was used to create the content is called DeepSwap, and there's not much information it online.In a press release published in July, DeepSwap used a Hong Kong dateline and included a quote from Penyne Wu, who was identified in the release as CEO and co-founder.
The media on the release was Shawn Banks, who was listed as marketing manager.
CNBC was unable to find information online Wu, and sent multiple s to the address vided for Banks, but received no response.DeepSwap's website currently lists "MINDSPARK AI LIMITED" as its company name, vides an address in Dublin, and states that its terms of service are "governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Ireland."However, in July, the same DeepSwap page had no mention of Mindspark, and references to Ireland instead said Hong Kong.
AI's collateral damageMaye Quade's bill, which is still being considered, would fine companies that offer nudify services $500,000 for every nonconsensual, explicit deepfake that they generate in the state of Minnesota.Some experts are concerned, however, that the Trump administration's plans to bolster the AI sector will undercut states' efforts.
In late July, Trump signed executive orders as part of the White House's AI Action Plan, underscoring AI development as a "national security imperative." Kelley hopes that any federal AI push doesn't jeopardize the efforts of the Minnesota women."I'm concerned that we will continue to be left behind and sacrificed at the altar of trying to have some geopolitical race for powerful AI," Kelley said.WATCH: The alarming rise of AI 'nudify' apps that create explicit images of real people.watch now16:5516:55Victims speak out the harm of AI-powered 'nudify' tools