It’s a Saturday night in the not-too-distant future.
You’re home alone, your phone’s on silent, and you’re settling in to enjoy a new stream from your favourite porn site. You press play, and in walks your favourite porn star. She’s wearing that outfit you like, and her hair is styled the way you like it too.
The scene starts out POV as she strips for you, revealing a body that’s never looked better. Then she does that thing you wanted – the thing she said she would never do on camera. It’s as mind-blowing as you expected.
As she gets to work, the camera angle changes, and you see the other person in the scene. It’s you. Your face, your body, your voice. It’s all you.
This isn’t a pipe dream. With the creation of digital avatars, AI selfies capable of acting out scenes on-demand, it’s quite possible that the near future will see licensed and legal, fully bespoke porn starring the industry’s most in-demand talent – and potentially starring you too.
How realistic is this? I took a close look at the world of ‘deepfake selfies‘ to find out what’s already in the works.
The Ethics of AI Adult Avatars
There’s a whole debate about the ethics of deepfakes, and of course using a person’s likeness in the form of a digital avatar should be consensual.
In this investigation, I’m only looking at legal, licensed use of AI deepfakes. Nothing in this article is an endorsement or approval of:
- Fake nudes or AI ‘revenge porn’ of private individuals
- Pasting celebrities’ faces and bodies into porn scenes
- Manipulating porn stars’ image without express consent
But how many people would actually want to appear in AI-generated scenes? More than you might think – and not just those already working in the industry.
1 In 3 Girls Want To Be a Deepfake Porn Star(!)
CGI has been around for decades, but the modern concept of ‘deepfakes’ (AI face-swapping in pornographic and SFW content) dates from 2017, and is named after a Reddit user who developed his own machine-learning algorithm for the process.
Just a few months later in March 2018, Sugarcookie published a survey of attitudes towards deepfakes.
Some of the results might be surprising:
- 1 in 3 girls (34%) wanted to see themselves deepfaked into a porno
- 1 in 6 guys (16%) wanted to see themselves added to a porn video
- Just 15% of people wanted deepfake porn of their IRL partner
The survey revealed some pretty wholesome findings too. For instance, 33% of widows said they would be interested in seeing deepfake content (not necessarily porn) of their deceased partner.
And just 8% of people wanted deepfake ‘revenge’ porn of an ex, suggesting that (hopefully) the vast majority of us would like to see AI avatars used ethically.
The Right to Your Own AI Likeness
Over five years later, deepfakes have become a widely known phenomenon and were at the heart of the 2023 Screen Actors Guild strike.
In December, SAG-AFTRA published a new contract for TV and theatrical work which required express consent for actors’ digital likenesses to be used, along with compensation at a rate equivalent to the number of days it would have taken to actually film the same content.
For independent creators, such as OnlyFans models, a whole host of AI-enabled image editing tools have sprung up in recent years, promising to optimise selfies at a single touch.
“Creators Use AI Without Knowing”
Alex Sim-Wise is a former glamour model from England, who returned to modelling in 2016 after a five-year break. In February 2023, she told the Independent that many OF creators use AI routinely – often without realising.
“There’s a whole subsection of creators who alter their identity,” she said. “I think OnlyFans creators have already been using this technology without really knowing it sometimes, with all the apps that we use to edit our content.“
She added: “They are AI, essentially, and are becoming more AI. I’ve got an option on my edit software for an ‘AI edit’, for example, which makes you into a slightly different person.“
Will Deepfake Porn Replace ‘Real’ Porn?
Knowingly or not, we’re hurtling towards a world where little of what we see on screen is untouched by AI hands. But is this problematic?
John Eros, a creator of audio erotica, thinks AI could add to the availability of porn, without replacing “human-only content”.
In November 2023, he told the Daily Star that AI-generated video and audio will always have limited appeal, and that “the majority” of people will always prefer “realism behind their porn”.
The Importance of Physicality in Porn
Eros said: “Knowing that a real person is involved makes things far more erotic. The reactions, the genuine responses and the little details that AI can’t provide – especially the natural desire to arouse the partner or viewer – will always be more appealing than what AI can provide.“
However, he admitted that “AI may help some aspects of production” and compared the appeal of human-only porn with the physicality of listening to vinyl records, rather than any of the more modern audio formats.
OF Stars Embracing AI Avatars
All of this brings us back to those questions of consent and convenience. If you were a porn star, would you rather film a scene, or have a computer generate it for you?
For several of the biggest OnlyFans stars, AI digital avatars are a way to offer customised content to subscribers, or to appear performing acts they would not be willing to film for real.
We touched on this in our deep dive into OnlyFans AI chatbots, where we learned that Amouranth is working on a computer-generated version of herself capable of inflating like a balloon.
She’s not the only one.
In December 2023, Mashable reported the trend of sex workers cloning themselves with AI to offer services they cannot provide for real.
Katiana Kay… Coming To Your Place
Among them is Katiana Kay, a TikTok influencer whose AI clone powered by Panion.Ai launched in May to over 5,000 first-day signups.
Panion.Ai’s team is now working on a full “realistic 3D avatar” with support for virtual reality and augmented reality, to create an immersive experience for subscribers.
This could lead to first-person VR porn starring a completely digital Katiana Ai, or even an AR scene in which Katiana is shown moving around your own home.
Elaina St James’ Sky-High Ambition
Mashable also reported about Elaina St James, an OF creator who’s working on a digital clone of herself to work on scenes that would be practically impossible IRL.
She said: “I could have sex while skydiving. I’d obviously never attempt this, but maybe my wild ElainaAI will.“
Again, it’s all about control. By creating their own AI content, actors are able to protect their incomes from being eroded by unlicensed third-party deepfakes – while catering for custom requests and niche fetishes among their fan base.
What Does The Future Hold?
It’s very likely that we will see a future where porn stars not only appear in fully computer-generated scenes – governed by licences issued by the stars themselves – but even where fans and followers can engage in immersive, realistic VR and AR sexual experiences.
In November 2023, Dexerto reported that Amouranth is working with numerous AI companies to develop digital likenesses of herself.
One of the most interesting is SugarWorld, which bills itself as “an interactive game and dating simulation” populated by avatars of real-world content creators.
Pour Some Virtual Sugar On Me
The platform is still in the pre-release stage, but promises access to over 150 male and female creators at launch. Subscribers can take creators on virtual dates and “play games to increase their feelings of love”.
SugarWorld will also interact with teledildonic toys – adding that all-important sense of physical touch to the realistic CGI graphics on-screen.
Amouranth told Dexerto: “It’s kind of like a simulated, almost-girlfriend experience, but not actually convincingly. It’s so new it’s basically a sci-fi concept.“
Our Verdict on Licensed Deepfake Porn
AI still has some way to go before we expect completely convincing ‘virtual actors’ – our recent test of the virtual girlfriend platform DreamGF uncovered a few features that stop short of substituting for an IRL girlfriend.
But getting the porn stars and OF creators involved could give this technology the nudge it needs to become more convincing.
Consensual, fully licensed digital avatars of top models and actresses allow unique access to information that unlicensed third-party recreations can’t hope to achieve:
- One-on-one language training with the model herself
- Instant correction of inaccuracies during training
- Potential for detailed 3D scans of star’s face and body
- Access to unreleased material – not just porn scenes
- Star’s own sign-off on quality of finished likeness
It’s probable that there will always be second-rate virtual versions of smaller to mid-range OF creators and less in-demand porn stars, but those at the top of the industry are working hard to make sure their AI avatars are the best they can be.
Combined with immersive POV VR and physical feedback via cyberdildonics, there’s bound to be a sizeable market for first-person custom content and AI-generated porn featuring all kinds of niches and fetishes – a new kind of legal, licensed puppet porn for the mid-21st century.
