With the rise of generative AI, a new phenomenon has emerged: AI pornography. This includes both entirely synthetic content and deepfake pornography, which often depicts celebrities or private individuals without their consent. While non-consensual deepfakes have already been widely discussed, the broader spectrum of experiences with AI pornography has so far received little research attention.
A recent study from the Media Psychology and Media Design Group at TU Ilmenau analyzed 390 public Reddit posts on this topic collected in 2024. The study focused on questions of production, content, use, effects, and ethical/legal implications. Results show that users most frequently discussed the technical production (59.5%) and the content (60.8%) of AI pornography. Use experiences were less common (12.8%), while effects (37.2%) and ethical/legal issues (35.1%) appeared in about one-third of the posts.
The experiences ranged from outrage and concern about potential harms to curiosity, enjoyment, and economic opportunities. The findings highlight the need for nuanced responses from policymakers, technology developers, educators, and mental health professionals.
Döring, N., Le, T. D., & Miller, D. J. (2025). Experiences with AI-generated pornography: A quantitative content analysis of Reddit posts. Archives of Sexual Behavior (Special Section on Artificial Intelligence and Sexuality). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-025-03227-x