Picture This: Sora Video Generation AI Might Let Us Bare All

OpenAI’s CTO says creation of nude images a future possibility

Signaling what could be an important step towards enabling artificial intelligence to create explicit content—potentially transforming the adult industry like nothing before or since—Mira Murati, OpenAI’s chief technology officer, told the Wall Street Journal its Sora text-to-video software could someday be allowed to generate what she refers to as “artistic” nudity.

Though we’re not sure what precisely Murati means by this and, more importantly, if it will even be possible to prevent users from making full blown adult movies with Sora full-blown adult movies once the genie is freed from the confines of its bottle, we think there’s an excellent chance we might someday be able to ask and almost-immediately see any erotic fantasy imaginable.

A digital grain of salt

OpenAI might also change their minds—especially if they receive negative backlash for even considering letting Sora make anything remotely erotic or, also likely, Murati and the artists she says she’s working with can’t actually define “artistic” nudity.

Not that erotic AI image generation systems are already here or will continue to be further refined; just Sora’s sexual unshackling would give them a much needed stamp of legitimacy.  

Similar to how Playboy elevated nudie magazines from the shelves of sleezy, back-alley shops to a magazine many wouldn’t be ashamed to own—or even display on their coffee tables.

Better than life

Then there’s the issue of quality. For instance, while PornPen [NSFW] may let users customize existing computer-generated models, it simply cannot compare to super-high-end systems such as Sora.

If you’re unfamiliar with Sora, it might best be thought of as image-generation software’s Next Big Thing. Similar to Midjourney, DALL·E 2, and what feels like dozens—and dozens more as time goes on—of platforms where, in the case of Starry.ai, inputting the phrase “a couple passionately embracing” produces the above image, Sora is instead capable of creating fully-rendered movies.

The results are, quite frankly, breathtaking. However, there remains room for improvement, like how Sora-produced videos currently look less realistic, more akin to surreal dreamscapes.  

Sora has only been available since February of this year, so users can expect Sora and other image-generation systems to advance enough to eventually create videos that are indistinguishable from anything shot with a camera or animated by hand.

Realistic and unrealistic limitations

If technology’s taught us anything, it’s if there’s a big enough demand, someone, somewhere, will do whatever it takes to satisfy it. Add since sexuality—specifically adult content—frequently fuels innovation, you can see why it’s pointless to try and keep Sora and its kin needlessly chaste.

Not to say we shouldn’t do our best to maintain at least some level of control, to prevent damage done by deepfakes and AI revenge-porn images.  

Murati addresses this, saying OpenAI has been working on integrating a digital watermark into whatever their software generates and hardwiring in some obvious prohibitions, i.e., preventing users from doctoring images of public figures or anyone who doesn’t consent to have their likenesses manipulated.

Know what to fight and what not

Whether Murati and other AI developers, in addition to legal and social advocates, will succeed remains uncertain.  

But it could be argued it might be best to not police every conceivable misuse of image generation software; that it might be more effective to instead focus on the most important ones.

So rather than wasting time, effort, energy, and money fretting about users making sexy images or movies, the industry and lawmakers should put more effort into securing our right to privacy and the consensual use of our identities. 

Besides people being people and technology being technology, stopping the use of image-generation software to create adult content might prove to be impossible.

Everything/anything imaginable

So, in the end, maybe giving us the freedom to make our sexual fantasies a visual and audio reality would be the biggest win of all.  

Think of it this way: Computer-generated adult content doesn’t require human participation, so there is no risk of any one ever being forced or coerced into participating.  

It also could scratch every conceivable sexual itch, limited only by built-in restrictions on generating characters below the age of consent or activities involving non-consensual sex and/or violence.

We might also be able to add a dose of therapy to go along with our realized sexual fantasies: wouldn’t it be wonderful if you learned how to deal with, and maybe even help to overcome sexual or social issues while taking in your very own, fully-customized explicit movie?

Mix in a smidgen of interactivity, and we will not only watch and listen but participate as well, especially when wearing a virtual or augmented headset.

Before any of this might happen, we need to face reality; not only how attempting to prevent Sora and other image-generation systems from letting us make adult content is a fool’s errand but not letting it get in the way of what we should be worrying about.

I mean, we have to do whatever it takes to ensure that—explicit or not—our faces, bodies, and selves remain our own.

Image Sources: Depositphotos, Starry.Ai