AI 'nudification' apps depicting sexual assault available on Apple's store

Artificial intelligence apps which allow users to upload photographs to generate nude pictures are freely available to download on Apple’s App Store.

Investigations by the Independent newspaper have found apps that allow people to make depictions of rape and sexual assault from photographs. Several apps were found that allow users to ‘digitally strip’ people of their clothes, including one that allowed scenes depicting ‘bedroom rape’ along with other AI-generated scenarios. Descriptions were accompanied with graphic videos of the scenes.

Earlier this year the Tech Transparency Project found 47 artificial intelligence nudification apps available in Apple’s App Store. The Independent’s research found some of the same apps available in the UK, along with other similar programs.

The creation of AI deepfake nudes has been illegal in the UK since Parliament passed the Crime and Policing Act earlier this year. Pornography depicting rape and sexual assault has been unlawful since 2015 in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Apple’s App Store states that apps “should not include content that is offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust, in exceptionally poor taste, or just plain creepy”. It forbids “overtly sexual or pornographic material”.

Labour MP Jess Asato is currently suing SpaceXAI over sexualised images created of her by the company’s chatbot Grok. She said that women and children were being “violated, abused and harmed” online “because app creators allow it to happen”.

“There are plenty of tools with strong safeguards that don’t accept requests for nudification or sexualisation, so where they do, like with Grok, it isn’t an accident; it’s a choice, and we need accountability,” she said. “Nobody should live in fear that their image can be sexualised and shared around the world by an AI tool, which is why I am pursuing legal action to prove responsibility and stop AI abuse.”

A spokesperson for Ofcom said it was “actively assessing” various sites and apps over their compliance with the Online Safety Act and “will not hesitate” to act if failings are found. “New rules that came into force at the end of July 2025 mean all services that allow sexually explicit material need to have highly effective age-checks in place to prevent children from accessing it,” they said, adding that “we have no powers to regulate app stores at present, but have been tasked with assessing the role they play in children encountering harmful content. We will report our findings later this year.”