ABSTRACT
Pornography has long driven technological innovation and now appears to be a major force in the AI landscape. New tools are freely accessible, highly sophisticated, and require no technical expertise, enabling anyone, including minors, to instantly create realistic sexualised imagery. The rise of sexualised deepfakes presents serious legal challenges, particularly when real persons are depicted without consent. While parallels can be drawn with non-consensual intimate imagery (ie ‘revenge pornography’), the involvement of new actors and technologies raises novel regulatory questions. Structured around the key actors involved in the creation and dissemination of deepfake pornography, this paper identifies an ‘under-regulation’ of the phenomenon in the EU both as regards the deployment of AI technology and user prompting. A possible avenue pointing towards ways of mitigating risks and addressing regulatory gaps would be the classification of deepfake pornography as ‘high-risk’ under the AI Act.
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Sandra Schmitz-Berndta, Nils Victor Langensteiner and Marinos Emmanouil Kalpakos, Non-consensual deepnudes: responses under EU law to a novel form of sexual abuse, International Review of Law, Computers & Technology. Published online: 9 April 2026.
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