AI being used to make deepfakes spark online harassment concerns. What does the law say? 

At times, we are proud of the technological advancements taking place in the world, but other times we are disgusted by the horrible things that technology can do.

Today is one of the latter days as AI continues to push boundaries in the field of innovation. Some of these innovations are not being used for negative purposes but now the scenario is different. AI is now being used to remove women's clothes. 

Online harassment is nothing new but for the last few days, we are seeing some alarming social media posts about the new way of online harassment. Some people are creating nudes of women with the help of AI and harassing them virtually. 

The AI clothing remover represents a groundbreaking technology that utilises sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms to digitally remove individuals' clothing in photographs. Specialised deep-learning models have been trained to accurately identify and understand different clothing elements, including shirts, pants, and dresses. By analysing visual cues and patterns, these algorithms can adeptly recognise and eliminate clothing while preserving the natural contours of the body underneath.

While this technology is built to help the fashion and entertainment industry, now it is being used to create deepfake nudes. 

Sparking light on this matter, The Business Standard spoke to  Md Saimum Reza Talukder a senior lecturer of the School of Law at  BRAC University and also a member of AI Working Group, Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities and an advocate at Dhaka District and Sessions Court. 

In the event of someone experiencing harassment due to any AI dress removal technology, what are the available legal actions they can take?

Adv Md Saimum Reza: As per Section 8 of the Pornography Control Act 2012, such an act is a punishable offense, with imprisonment up to five years and Tk2 lakh fine. As per Section 25 of the Digital Security Act 2018, imprisonment could be up to 3 years and/or Tk3 lakh fine. As per Section 26 of the DSA, the punishment could be imprisonment up to 5 years and/or Tk5 lakh fine. This is also a defamatory act, so as per Section 29 of DSA, the punishment is imprisonment up to 3 years and/or Tk5 lakh Taka fine. For repetition of such crime, there will be more punishments under Sections 25, 26 and 29 of the DSA. 

For abatement of such offenses, both the PCA and DSA prescribe the same punishment for the abettor.

What potential consequences could the harassers face as a result of their actions?

Adv Md Saimum Reza: I already have mentioned punishments prescribed under the Bangladeshi criminal laws in the above paragraph. Apart from that, usually, the tech platforms have their policies to block or ban any content which causes online sexual harassment or child pornography. The harasser's social media account may get blocked if someone reports that content. Different governments worldwide share criminal data regarding child pornography and sexual harassment. These are some alternative ways to deal with online sexual harassment.

After pursuing legal actions, is there any possibility of the affected individual being compensated?

Adv Md Saimum Reza: None of the Bangladeshi laws contains definitions for "online sexual harassment". The Pornography Control Act criminalises pornography by imposing imprisonment and fines, but it does not impose compensation. Usually, compensation is considered a civil liability, Question is, should we consider such an act of dress removal by AI as a civil liability? I believe that the individual perpetrator who used that AI dress removal app can be given imprisonment and/or a fine.  And if the tech platform does not follow or comply with the due diligence and fails to take down the content, it can be compelled to compensate the victim. However, considering the local context, we need to scrutinise it more carefully.