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.”