Dramatic rise in publicly downloadable deepfake image generators

 MISOGYNY ON LINE WEAPONIZED

University of Oxford

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New Oxford study uncovers explosion of accessible deepfake AI image generation models intended for the creation of non-consensual, sexualised images of women

Researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) at the University of Oxford have uncovered a dramatic rise in easily accessible AI tools specifically designed to create deepfake images of identifiable people, finding nearly 35,000 such tools available for public download on one popular globally accessible online platform, for example.

The study, led by Will Hawkins, a doctoral student at the OII, and accepted for publication at the ACM Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT) conference, reveals these deepfake generators have been downloaded almost 15 million times since late 2022, primarily targeting women. The data point towards a rapid increase in AI-generated non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII). 

Key findings:

• Massive scale: Nearly 35,000 publicly downloadable “deepfake model variants” were identified. These are models that have been fine-tuned to produce deepfake images of identifiable people, often celebrities. Other variants seek to generate less prominent individuals, with many based on social media profiles. They are primarily hosted on Civitai, a popular open database of AI models.  
• Widespread use: Deepfake model variants have been downloaded almost 15 million times cumulatively since November 2022. Each variant downloaded could generate limitless deepfake images.
• Overwhelmingly targeting women: A detailed analysis revealed 96% of the deepfake models targeted identifiable women. Targeted women ranged from globally recognised celebrities to social media users with relatively small followings. Many of the most popular deepfake models target individuals from China, Korea, Japan, the UK and the US.
• Easily created: Many deepfake model variants are created using a technique called Low Rank Adaptation (LoRA), requiring as few as 20 images of the target individual, a consumer-grade computer, and 15 minutes of processing time.
• Intended to generate NCII: Many models carry tags such as ‘porn’, ‘sexy’ or ‘nude’ or descriptions signalling intent to generate Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery (NCII), despite such uses violating the hosting platforms' Terms of Service and being illegal in some countries including the UK. 

“There is an urgent need for more robust technical safeguards, clearer and more proactively enforced platform policies, and new regulatory approaches to address the creation and distribution of these harmful AI models,” said Will Hawkins, lead author of the study.

The sharing of sexually explicit deepfake images was made a criminal offence in England and Wales under an amendment to the Online Safety Act in April 2023. The UK Government hopes to also make creating such images an offence as part of its Crime and Policing Bill, which is at currently at Committee Stage.

The results may be merely the tip of the iceberg, with this analysis conducted on only publicly available models on reputable platforms. Given the low cost for creating these models, more egregious deepfake content – for example child sexual abuse material – may also be increasingly widespread but not publicised or hosted on public platforms.

The study, ‘Deepfakes on Demand: the rise of accessible non-consensual deepfake image generators’ by Will Hawkins, Chris Russell and Brent Mittelstadt of the Oxford Internet Institute, will be available as a pre-print on arXiv from 7 May. It will be formally published as part of the ACM Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT) peer-reviewed conference proceedings. The conference will be held from 23-26 June in Athens, Greece.

Notes for editors

About this research    

The research was carried out through a meta-data analysis of thousands of publicly downloadable text-to-image model variants, focusing on Flux and Stable Diffusion models hosted on two popular repositories, Hugging Face and Civitai.

This study was reviewed and received approval from the University of Oxford’s Central University Research Ethics Committee, application ID 987316

Funding information  

This research was supported by the Wellcome Trust (grant nr 223765/Z/21/Z), Sloan Foundation (grant nr G2021-16779), Department of Health and Social Care, EPSRC (grant nr EP/Y019393/1), and Luminate Group, as part of the Trustworthiness Auditing for AI project and Governance of Emerging Technologies research programme at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford.

During the course of this work, Will Hawkins held an employed position at Google DeepMind. Google did not fund or contribute to the research.

Contact 

For more information and briefings, please contact: Anthea Milnes, Head of Communications / Veena McCoole, Media and Communications Manager.     

T: +44 (0)1865 280527

M: +44 (0)7551 345493 

E: press@oii.ox.ac.uk  

About the Oxford Internet Institute (OII)    

The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) is a multidisciplinary research and teaching department of the University of Oxford, dedicated to the social science of the Internet. Drawing from many different disciplines, the OII works to understand how individual and collective behaviour online shapes our social, economic and political world.

Since its founding in 2001, research from the OII has had a significant impact on policy debate, formulation and implementation around the globe, as well as a secondary impact on people’s wellbeing, safety and understanding.

Drawing on many different disciplines, the OII takes a combined approach to tackling society’s big questions, with the aim of positively shaping the development of the digital world for the public good.  

About the University of Oxford   

Oxford University has been placed number 1 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the ninth year running, and number 3 in the QS World Rankings 2024. At the heart of this success are the twin-pillars of our ground-breaking research and innovation and our distinctive educational offer.   

Oxford is world-famous for research and teaching excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research alongside our personalised approach to teaching sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions.   

Through its research commercialisation arm, Oxford University Innovation, Oxford is the highest university patent filer in the UK and is ranked first in the UK for university spinouts, having created more than 300 new companies since 1988. Over a third of these companies have been created in the past five years. The university is a catalyst for prosperity in Oxfordshire and the United Kingdom, contributing £15.7 billion to the UK economy in 2018/19, and supports more than 28,000 full time jobs.  

The world’s wealthiest 10% caused two thirds of global warming since 1990

 MAKE THE RICH PAY FOR THE CLIMATE CRISIS!

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

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Wealthy individuals have a higher carbon footprint. A new study published in Nature Climate Change quantifies the climate outcomes of these inequalities. It finds that the world’s wealthiest 10% are responsible for two thirds of observed global warming since 1990 and the resulting increases in climate extremes such as heatwaves and droughts.

The study assesses the contribution of the highest emitting groups within societies and finds that the top 1% of the wealthiest individuals globally contributed 26 times the global average to increases in monthly 1-in-100-year heat extremes globally and 17 times more to Amazon droughts.

The research sheds new light on the links between income-based emissions inequality and climate injustice, illustrating how the consumption and investments of wealthy individuals have had disproportionate impacts on extreme weather events. These impacts are especially severe in vulnerable tropical regions like the Amazon, Southeast Asia, and southern Africa – all areas that have historically contributed the least to global emissions.

“Our study shows that extreme climate impacts are not just the result of abstract global emissions, instead we can directly link them to our lifestyle and investment choices, which in turn are linked to wealth,” explains lead author Sarah Schöngart, an alumna of the 2024 Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP), who is currently associated with ETH Zurich. “We found that wealthy emitters play a major role in driving climate extremes, which provides strong support for climate policies that target the reduction of their emissions.”

Using a novel modeling framework that combined economic data and climate simulations, the researchers were able to trace emissions from different global income groups and assess their contributions to specific climate extremes. They found that emissions from the wealthiest 10% of individuals in the United States and China alone, each led to a two-to threefold increase in heat extremes across vulnerable regions.

“If everyone had emitted like the bottom 50% of the global population, the world would have seen minimal additional warming since 1990,” says coauthor Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, who leads the Integrated Climate Impacts Research Group at IIASA. “Addressing this imbalance is crucial for fair and effective climate action.”

The study also emphasizes the importance of emissions embedded in financial investments, rather than just personal consumption. The authors argue that targeting the financial flows and portfolios of high-income individuals could yield substantial climate benefits.

“This is not an academic discussion – it’s about the real impacts of the climate crisis today,” adds Schleussner. “Climate action that doesn’t address the outsize responsibilities of the wealthiest members of society, risks missing one of the most powerful levers we have to reduce future harm.”

The authors suggest that their findings could motivate progressive policy instruments targeted at societal elites, noting that such policies can also foster social acceptance of climate action. Making rich individual polluters pay can also help to provide much needed support for adaptation and loss and damage in vulnerable countries. They conclude that rebalancing responsibility for climate action in line with actual emissions contributions is essential, not just to slow global warming, but to achieve a more just and resilient world.

The study is the result of work undertaken as part of Schöngart’s YSSP project in 2024 for which she was awarded the IIASA Levien award.

Reference:
Schöngart, S., Nicholls, Z., Hoffmann, R., Pelz, S., & Schleussner, C. (2025). High-income groups disproportionately contribute to climate extremes worldwide. Nature Climate Change DOI: 10.1038/s41558-025-02325-x

 

About IIASA:
The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century. Our findings provide valuable options to policymakers to shape the future of our changing world. IIASA is independent and funded by prestigious research funding agencies in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. www.iiasa.ac.at

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Journal

Nature Climate Change

DOI

10.1038/s41558-025-02325-x 

Article Title

High-income groups disproportionately contribute to climate extremes worldwide

Article Publication Date

7-May-2025

 

New study tracks air pollution and CO₂ emissions across thousands of cities worldwide

George Washington University

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WASHINGTON (May 7, 2025) - In a sweeping new study of more than 13,000 urban areas worldwide, researchers have mapped air pollution levels and carbon dioxide emissions, providing comprehensive global analysis of urban environmental quality. 

The research led by George Washington University, in collaboration with scientists from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, used data from satellite observations, ground-based measurements and computer models to measure city-level air pollution and the average amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere in 13,189 urban areas globally. The study, which highlights regional disparities, focused on the years spanning from 2005-2019. 

“This study provides a powerful snapshot of how urban environments are evolving across the globe,” said Susan Anenberg, professor of environmental and occupational health at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health and director of the GW Climate and Health Institute. “It also shows that progress is possible but uneven, with some cities seeing worsening pollution while others are experiencing cleaner air over time.”

Key Findings:

• More than 50% of cities showed links between all pollutants, suggesting they likely come from the same sources and could be reduced together.

• Urban areas in high-income regions with aggressive environmental policies saw simultaneous declines in all pollutants.

• Cities in regions undergoing rapid population and economic growth, including South Asia and parts of Africa, experienced rising pollution and emissions levels.

• Satellite remote sensing provides an unprecedented opportunity to track pollution levels in all cities worldwide.

The study’s integrated approach offers policymakers, researchers and climate advocates a valuable new tool for assessing the effectiveness of strategies to reduce pollution. By tracking historical pollutant trends and analyzing correlations across air pollution, nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide emissions, the study offers insights into how urban areas can make progress on both climate and public health goals.

Researchers also created an interactive map and dashboard to track air pollution in cities worldwide. 

The study “Tracking air pollution and CO2 emissions in 13,189 urban areas worldwide using large geospatial datasets” was published in Communications Earth & Environment.

 

 

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Journal

Communications Earth & Environment

Article Title

Tracking air pollution and CO2 emissions in 13,189 urban areas worldwide using large geospatial datasets

Article Publication Date

7-May-2025

 

The atmospheric memory that feeds billions of people: Newly discovered mechanism for monsoon rainfall

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

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Across the globe, monsoon rainfall switches on in spring and off in autumn. Until now, this seasonal pattern was primarily understood as an immediate response to changes in solar radiation. A new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), published in the scientific journal PNAS, shows for the first time that the atmosphere can store moisture over extended periods, creating a physical memory effect. It allows monsoon systems to flip between two stable states. Disrupting this delicate balance, would have severe consequences for billions of people in India, Indonesia, Brazil and China.

“The atmosphere can ‘remember’ its previous state by storing physical information in the form of water vapour,” explains Anja Katzenberger, PIK researcher and author of the study. “In practical terms, this means that even though solar radiation increases or decreases with the seasons, the atmosphere doesn’t always respond immediately. During spring, water vapour accumulates over days and weeks. This reservoir determines the onset of monsoon rainfall in early summer and maintains it even as solar influx starts to decline in autumn.”

Path dependence in the atmosphere: How the monsoon “remembers”

Combining observational data from India, China and other monsoon regions with atmospheric simulations, the research team shows that the state of the atmosphere depends on its seasonal history: If it’s already raining, the rain persists. But if it has been dry, it is hard to initiate rainfall. In spring, the atmosphere is typically dry and needs to “fill up” with water vapour before the monsoon can start. In contrast, the post-monsoon atmosphere in autumn remains moist and continues to support rainfall even as solar radiation weakens. “This behaviour is what we call bistability,” says Katzenberger. “At the same level of solar radiation, the atmosphere can either be dry or rainy, depending on the preceding state.”

“We’ve long known that systems like the ocean or the massive ice sheets have some sort of memory. But the atmosphere? That was thought impossible,” adds study co-author Anders Levermann, who leads the department of Complexity Science at PIK. “This memory effect leads to a switch-like behaviour in monsoon rainfall, a seasonal flip from ‘off’ to ‘on’ and back again. And crucially, it doesn’t happen gradually – it’s abrupt, sudden.” Such abrupt shifts are characteristic of other tipping elements in the climate system, but the monsoon is special, Levermann says: "What's particularly notable is that the monsoon crosses its tipping point every year and then returns. This could enable us in the future to actually identify the tipping point with observational data and develop an early warning system."

A combination of observation, theory and simulation

To unravel the mechanism behind this bistable behaviour, the team used both real-world data and simulations with a high-resolution atmospheric general circulation model developed at Princeton University. In an idealised “Monsoon Planet” setup, they isolated the atmosphere from slower Earth system components like the oceans. The simulations showed that monsoon rainfall can flip between a dry and wet state without the thermal inertia of the ocean. Key to this behaviour is the formation of a robust column of atmospheric moisture that stabilises rainfall over weeks. The central tipping point in this system can clearly be identified as a threshold, explains Katzenberger: “When atmospheric water vapour exceeds around 35 kilograms per square metre, the monsoon switches on. If it falls below that, it switches off. This abrupt, threshold-based response defines the bistability.”

If this dynamic were disrupted, for example through pollution or global warming, we could face major challenges, concludes Levermann: “This would have dramatic consequences for billions of people in regions like India, Indonesia, Brazil and China who depend with their livelihood on monsoon rainfall – It would disrupt not only our climate system, but our societies worldwide.”

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Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2418093122 

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Article Title

Monsoon Hysteresis reveals Atmospheric Memory.

Article Publication Date

7-May-2025

 

Losing a parent may increase children's risk of being bullied

A new study found that female children, older children, and children in rural areas grieving parental loss were all more likely to be victims of school bullying

Boston University School of Public Health

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Losing a parent or caregiver at any age is a traumatic and emotional experience, but when a child loses a parent, it can profoundly affect their development and well-being throughout multiple stages of their life. 

A new study led by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) found that youth who experienced the death of a parent were more likely to be victims of bullying. 

Published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, the study surveyed 21,000 children in China and found that the association between parental bereavement and school bullying varied by sex of the child and deceased parent, age when the death occurred, and geographical area. Adolescents in rural areas, girls, and older youth (ages 13-17) were at higher risk of bullying after either parent died. 

“Childhood parental death is a major traumatic experience that significantly increases the risk of other adverse outcomes, including bullying victimization,” says study senior and co-corresponding author Dr. Ziming Xuan, professor of community health sciences at BUSPH. 

Maternal death raised this risk specifically among male youth, “suggesting that maternal support may play a uniquely protective role in the lives of sons,” he says.

Parental support can heavily shape children’s physical, mental, economic, and social well-being, all of which can influence how they interact with classmates and navigate relationships in school. 

For the study, Dr. Xuan and colleagues from BUSPH and Kunming Medical University (KMU) in Kunming, Yunnan, China, utilized 2019-2021 data from the Mental Health Survey for Children and Adolescents, a large, ongoing study that assesses the mental health of more than 35,000 children in southwestern China. The participants were ages 10-17.

Among the study group, nearly three percent of participants experienced a parental death and more than 15 percent reported that they were being bullied at school. The majority of parental deaths in China during this study period occurred before the COVID-19 pandemic began, but an estimated eight million children under 18 worldwide have lost a parent or primary caregiver to a pandemic-related cause. In the US, more than four percent of children up to 17 years old had lost at least one parent in 2021. 

The researchers hope this data informs tailored support for youth who are mourning a parent.

“Effective interventions to reduce the risk of school bullying among bereaved children should be multi-layered and long-term, addressing both emotional and social dimensions of support,” says Dr. Xuan. “This can include personalized counseling, active involvement of remaining caregivers or extended family, and programs tailored to developmental stage and cultural context.”

This support should also evolve over time, as children’s needs change during the bereavement process, he adds. “In schools, educators and staff should be trained to recognize signs of grief and vulnerability and foster inclusive, empathetic environments. A warm, caring school climate can be especially critical in reducing the risk of bullying and promoting resilience among bereaved youth.”

The study’s co-lead authors were Hailiang Ran, a visiting KMU School of Public Health doctoral student in the Department of Community Health Sciences at SPH, and Dr. Jin Lu, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at The First Affiliated Hospital of KMU. The co-corresponding author is Dr. Yuanyuan Xiao, a professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics at KMU’s School of Public Health.  

**

About Boston University School of Public Health 

Founded in 1976, Boston University School of Public Health is one of the top ten ranked schools of public health in the world. It offers master's- and doctoral-level education in public health. The faculty in six departments conduct policy-changing public health research around the world, with the mission of improving the health of populations—especially the disadvantaged, underserved, and vulnerable—locally and globally. 

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Journal

Journal of Affective Disorders

DOI

10.1016/j.jad.2025.03.105 

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Exposure to childhood parental bereavement and risk of school bullying victimization

 

Is virtual-only couture the new clothing craze?

New research proposes virtual-only clothing could be a cleaner opportunity for the fashion industry

University of Portsmouth

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New research proposes virtual-only clothing could be a cleaner opportunity for the fashion industry

As fast fashion continues to fill wardrobes and landfills at a staggering pace, new research from the University of Portsmouth suggests that the future of fashion might lie not in fabric, but in pixels.

In a multi-study paper published in the International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, a team of researchers has delved into the growing phenomenon of e-fashion - digital garments worn in virtual environments - and found these intangible items could help bridge the gap between fast fashion and environmental sustainability.

From Instagram filters to gaming skins, the idea of digital self-presentation isn’t new. But fashion brands are now taking things a step further, offering digital-only collections that exist purely on-screen. 

These clothes can change colour, morph shape, and even communicate with physical counterparts via near-field communication (NFC) chips. Crucially, they come without the environmental baggage of traditional production, shipping or waste. Their production, consumption and disposal don’t require using raw and difficult-to-recycle materials such as polyester. The research studied how consumers respond to the unique appeal of digital clothing and what drives their willingness to pay for garments they can’t physically touch, try and own. 

Findings show that consumers with a strong appetite for novel and tactile experiences are particularly drawn to e-fashion, valuing its creativity, customisability and interactivity. For them, virtual couture is not a compromise but an additional new frontier in personal style.

Conventional logic suggests that consumers with a strong need for touch, who enjoy physically inspecting and trying on a garment, are less likely to find e-fashion appealing. 

However, the research challenges this logic. It learns that consumers with a high need for touch, anda high sensation-seeking, are an ideal target market for virtual clothing. 

The research found that consumers could mentally simulate the tactile features of e-fashion, a process that becomes increasingly feasible and vivid with the adoption of virtual reality headsets. 

One of the co-authors, Dr Kokho (Jason) Sit, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Portsmouth, said: “Whether e-fashion is a fleeting fad or a long-lasting trend remains to be seen, but its environmental potential is undeniable. Unlike fast fashion’s reliance on low-cost, often non-recyclable materials and landfill-heavy turnover, digital garments can be produced, consumed, and discarded with a single keystroke - or perhaps several keystrokes. No raw materials, modern slavery, shipping and delivery are involved, reducing deforestation, inhumane working conditions, carbon footprint and landfills.”

“This research shows that e-fashion isn’t just a gimmick for gamers or influencers.  It can potentially disrupt the fast fashion model in a profitable way for fashion brands, exciting for consumers and better for the planet.”

While it may not entirely replace physical fashion, the study suggests e-fashion could meaningfully reduce our reliance on high-volume, low-value clothing and help curb the environmental toll of an industry that urgently needs reform.

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Journal

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management

DOI

10.1108/ijrdm-10-2023-0583/full/html 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Will consumers pay for e-fashion? A multi-study investigation

Article Publication Date

7-May-2025