Leonardo AI's text-to-image generator was used to create deepfake pornographic images of celebrities including Billie Eilish through prompts that circumvented the platform's content moderation filters.
Leonardo AI, a Sydney-based startup that raised $47 million in funding, developed a text-to-image generator launched in December 2022. The platform was designed for creating gaming characters, advertising media, fashion designs, and architectural concepts. In early 2024, journalist Emanuel Maiberg from 404 Media discovered that users were exploiting the system to generate nonconsensual sexual images of celebrities, particularly singer Billie Eilish. The exploit involved using specific prompts found on Reddit and shared in Telegram communities that circumvented Leonardo AI's existing content moderation filters. While direct prompts like 'Taylor Swift nude' were blocked by content moderation filters, more sophisticated prompt techniques allowed users to bypass these safeguards. The company operates multi-layered automated filtering combined with manual moderation to prevent misuse. Following the 404 Media investigation, Leonardo AI implemented additional protective measures and stated that many changes were already live with more planned over the following weeks. The vulnerability is believed to have been patched within approximately two weeks of being identified.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed