Researchers at University College Cork (UCC) have developed a new online educational toolkit designed to reduce engagement with AI-generated explicit images.
The free 10-minute intervention, Deepfakes/Real Harms, is aimed at lowering users willingness to engage with harmful deepfake technology, including non-consensual explicit content.
The online course includes examples of deepfake images and videos, descriptions of the impact of abuse imagery, as well as questions to users about their views of these impacts.
It is designed to encourages reflection and empathy with victims of AI imagery abuse.
UCC researchers said they found that completing the intervention significantly reduced belief in common deepfake myths and lowered users intentions to engage with harmful uses of deepfake technology.
The online tool has been tested with more than 2,000 international participants of varied ages, genders, and levels of digital literacy.
Lead researcher John Twomey at the UCC School of Applied Psychology, said there is a tendency to attribute human characteristics to AI technology such as blaming Grok for creating explicit images and even running headlines claiming Grok "apologised" afterwards.
"But human users are the ones deciding to harass and defame people in this manner," Mr Twomey said.
"Our findings suggest that educating individuals about the harms of AI identity manipulation can help to stop this problem at source," he added.
Dr Gillian Murphy, UCC's School of Applied Psychology and research project Principal Investigator, said the new toolkit does not relieve platforms and regulators of their responsibilities in tackling abuse, but can be part of a multi-pronged approach.
"All of us - internet users, parents, teachers, friends and bystanders - can benefit from a more empathetic understanding of non-consensual synthetic imagery," Dr Murphy said.
The project is funded by Lero, the Research Ireland Centre for Software.
