Cultpix, Multiformat Face Consent Backlash Over AI Films From 1976 Erotic Photos
Updated
Updated · Futurism · May 24
Cultpix, Multiformat Face Consent Backlash Over AI Films From 1976 Erotic Photos
2 articles · Updated · Futurism · May 24
A Cannes-week AI short-film collection called “Sh(AI)ved” drew fierce online backlash after Multiformat and distributor Cultpix turned photos from a 1976 erotic magazine into moving images with sound and dialogue.
The outrage centered on consent: critics said the project transformed real women’s likenesses into sexualized video without permission, potentially including models who have since died.
Cultpix defended the films as an “experiment” meant to spark debate over half-century-old imagery and argued the original paid performers had already consented to being recorded.
The dispute lands amid wider alarm over generative AI being used to create nonconsensual sexual imagery, including recent controversies over tools used to digitally “undress” women and children.
Your 1976 photo becomes an AI film today. Is your decades-old consent still valid?
With new laws just passed, can AI still legally reanimate the dead without consent?