Abuse survivors criticise Channel 4 over release of Vicky Pattison ...

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Channel 4 has been criticised as “insulting” by AI deepfake pornography victim-survivors for broadcasting a documentary using the controversial technology.

The broadcaster’s new documentary, Vicky Pattison: My Deepfake Sex Tape, saw the reality star presenter have an AI-generated, explicit film created of herself.

But it was aired despite survivors of online image abuse “strongly advising” against it when producers approached them to consult on the documentary, according to The Guardian.

The masthead reported Jodie, 23, whose Instagram photos were sent to an Incel forum where they were turned into pornographic images, said the decision to include the AI generated footage of Pattison “lacked compassion”.

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“Survivor organisations strongly advised against it when they were approached by producers. So it’s just in really, really poor taste that they sought out advice and then ignored it completely,” she told The Guardian.

“I don’t think that someone that really intricately understood the effect of this abuse on someone would do this if they actually had compassion for the survivors.”

Deepfake pornography is created by using AI to superimpose a person’s face onto a nude body, often grafted on to existing sexual imagery.

Victims of the technology claimed releasing a deepfake video would be harmful to their cause by driving traffic to the kinds of sites they were trying to put an end to.

“You wouldn’t go and do a documentary where you get into a physically violent and abusive relationship to experience how it feels,” a victim told the same news outlet.

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“So why is it acceptable as a premise for a documentary to do this with online harm?”

In a statement to The Guardian, Channel 4 said the documentary includes testimony from survivors of image-based abuse, “to ensure that victim’s stories are at the forefront of the purpose of the programme”.

However, campaigners said they felt that that did not excuse the release of the video.

The Independent has approached Channel 4 separately for comment.

“If the experience of anyone who’s gone through this abuse isn’t compelling enough and isn’t getting the point across how painful and how hurtful it is,” a victim said, “then the interview is not asking the right questions.”