Three women in their 20s in Arizona have sued a network of AI entrepreneurs for allegedly using their photos to make deepfake pornography without their consent.
In a complaint filed in Maricopa County last month, the women — named only as “M.G.”, “H.R.”, and “H.B.” in order to preserve their privacy — have accused Instagram influencer Beau Schultz and two other men of “monetizing” their likenesses by using them as the basis for sexualized AI chatbots.
The men then allegedly sold subscriptions to access these erotic chatbots while bragging on social media about the money they made and offering to teach others to do the same.
“My bosses, future employers, people that I don’t know, and people that I do know are looking at me in a different light that I don’t want to be looked in,” one of the plaintiffs told local news site AZ Family.
The lawsuit names Schultz, two other men, and four companies it claims are associated with them.
Schultz did not respond to requests for comment from The Independent. The Independent has attempted to find contact information for others listed in the lawsuit.
According to the women’s attorney Nick Brand, the defendants adopted — and marketed — a simple playbook for making money from stranger’s photos.
“Step one of the process is find a girl you like on Instagram. Take 8-10 of her pictures, feed it into their AI platform that they also own,” Brand told Fox 4 Kansas City.
The resulting AI character would then be hosted on a subscription porn site, sending erotic messages back and forth with paying customers.
One plaintiff, who moved to Arizona from Kansas City, told Fox 4 she had simply shared “innocent, normal pictures of [herself]… doing daily stuff, selfies.”
She said the use of her photos had left her “scared and defeated”, giving her “a lot of anxiety” and “a lot of frustration and heartbreak.”
Schultz’s Instagram page features numerous AI-generated photos and videos of scantily-clad women, plus photos of sports cars and private jets, billing himself as “turning AI into income.”
One Instagram post describes his “blueprint” for how his 46,000 followers can quit their jobs if they just persuade 400 people to pay them $10 a month.
An associated Telegram channel offers users paid tools to make money using AI, plus a two week “boot camp” and a build-to-order service.
“Build a unique AI persona using the generator platform. Train your model with 8-10 high-quality reference photos. Generate hyper-realistic lifestyle and social content,” says one post on Instagram.
“[Then] post daily on IG & TikTok to drive organic traffic. Funnel users to an exclusive page with tiered pricing. Use AI automation to manage your DMs and scheduling…”
“Comment ‘AI’ and I’ll send you the step-by-step breakdown on how to start today.”
Court records do not yet list a response from any of the defendants.
