back to article Japanese bloke collared after using AI software to uncensor smut and flogging it

A man was detained in Japan for selling uncensored pornographic content that he had, in a way, depixelated using machine-learning tools. Masayuki Nakamoto, 43, was said to have made about 11 million yen ($96,000) from peddling over 10,000 processed porn clips, and was formally accused of selling ten hardcore photos for 2,300 …

  1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

    Ask Delphi<...>; no one is actually using it to make decisions.

    Are you sure? The Facebook automated systems could be based on it, from behaviour described later in the article...

    1. Snowy Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Ask Delphi<...>; no one is actually using it to make decisions.

      From a logic point of view if something makes "everyone happy" it got to be good? Which is where logic and language fails.

      The idea that everyone could agree anything is very unlikely, so unlikely that it can be called impossible.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Devil

      Re: Ask Delphi<...>; no one is actually using it to make decisions.

      I would say that Ask Delphi seems more competent than FarceBook's system.

    3. Mark 85

      Re: Ask Delphi<...>; no one is actually using it to make decisions.

      Are you sure? The Facebook automated systems could be based on it, from behaviour described later in the article...

      I was about to suggest the word "yet" be added to the title... But on second and third thought and involving FB, I'm not so sure that it's not already here.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: Ask Delphi<...>; no one is actually using it to make decisions.

        Classically asking Delphi for answers was a losing proposition.

        As Dennis the peasant might have said "Stoned tarts in caves gibbering is no basis for sound political strategy"

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

    4. cyberdemon Silver badge
      Holmes

      It's not that Ask Delphi lacks a moral compass, it just doesn’t know what it’s talking about.

      Surely it both lacks a moral compass AND doesn't know what it's talking about. It's just a pile of statistics about English text. Like any so-called AI.

  2. Sandtitz Silver badge
    Coat

    I can't understand this Delphi project failure at all.

    The Usenet Oracle answered every question, no matter how silly or obscure, with astute wisdom.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Whereas the post-Oracle Delphi just advises that you buy more site licenses

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I thought this might turn out to be ...

    ... an article about Ron Watkins. But no.

    [(Q)Anon Naturally. ]

  4. Snowy Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Facebook’s AI content moderation algorithms are naff

    That would be true if they had a working AI system, so it should say "Facebook’s content moderation is naff"

  5. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

    Silly censorship

    As far as can tell, the Japanese don't block the downloading of de-pixelated porn from foreign sites. Nor do they prevent their local stars from flying to the production capital of porn (Southern California), filming some stuff and shipping it back home.

    It's just a law left on the books since repressed Protestant missionaries suggested it and now nobody in their Parliament has the nerve to be the one to suggest getting it off the books.

    1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

      Re: Silly censorship

      One does wonder why the defendant went to the trouble of using AI to depixelate... as Paul H points out above there is no shortage of porn in which the pixelation never occurred.

      Perhaps he was hoping for a defence of 'no, no, it's not a real genital part, look, it was made by a robot!'?

      1. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

        Re: Silly censorship

        "there is no shortage of porn in which the pixelation never occurred"

        Some of the aficionados of the particular genre and fans of specific actors become obsessed with specific scenes. IMO, at that point, it's time to seek help. But then who am I to judge another's peccadillos when I have so .... No! Wait! Forget I said that.

        1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

          Re: Silly censorship

          Interesting question though.

          Is a description of dangly bits obscene?

          What about the HPGL vectors for a line drawing ?

          What about the CGI shader code for a computer generated dong?

          What about the matrix for deep-fake generated Mary Hinge ?

      2. yetanotheraoc Silver badge

        Re: Silly censorship

        "there is no shortage of porn"

        Maybe he used AI because he thought there _was_ a shortage of porn.

      3. Mark 85
        Holmes

        Re: Silly censorship

        as Paul H points out above there is no shortage of porn in which the pixelation never occurred

        There was a TV doctor show where the main character often said he "needed to go home and download porn as the internet keeps getting filled up with it". The guy was doing his part it seems.

    2. nonpc

      Re: Silly censorship

      Does the AI recreation work on the premise that 'they all look the same'...?

    3. EricB123 Bronze badge

      Re: Silly censorship

      So that's why my favorite porn channel is so pixalited!

  6. man_iii

    Ask Borland Delphi?

    A simple if then else written in Pascal?

    X-D

  7. Tim 11

    What if he had given away the software so others could de-pixelate the images on their own pc. Would either of them have been committing an offence in that case?

  8. Danny 2

    Smart bombs

    Obviously, Ask Delphi isn’t bad or good per se, it just doesn’t know what it’s talking about. It doesn’t understand what genocide is. Words mean nothing to the software; they’re just numerical concepts stored as vectors. What is interesting is that the experiment shows how easy it is to manipulate the outputs of these models by tweaking the inputs.

    All this applies to humans too. I'm not up to date but for decades polls showed most Britons support the reintroduction of the death penalty especially after a heinous crime highlighted in the media.

    Politicians, to their credit, have ignored that 'democratic' opinion. A flaw in democracy is how easy it is to manipulate public opinion on any issue by controlling the inputs - Daily Mail, Sun, Daily Express et al - then informed argument is just mob mentality mind controlled by an oligarchical elite.

    In case anyone supports the death penalty then I briefly did prisoner support and the petty injustices surprised me. One example though was an admitted murderer who'd served his thirty year tariff, but was still being held for political reasons. Still is. He said to me he'd have preferred execution than being held indefinitely for no good reason.

    We need better, less hacked, inputs ie journalism and protection for journalism.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Smart bombs

      Give the likes of the British Public the vote and we'll be back to cavorting druids, death by stoning and dung for dinner

      1. David 132 Silver badge
        Windows

        Re: Smart bombs

        Oh, I'm having dung for dinner tonight Mr B!

    2. veti Silver badge

      Re: Smart bombs

      "Journalism and protection for journalism" is what has given us the Sun, Express, Mail etc. Say what you like about them, their journalism is world class. The trouble is, "protection for journalism" translates to "complete lack of accountability for their owners".

    3. SundogUK Silver badge

      Re: Smart bombs

      "We need better, less hacked, inputs ie journalism and protection for journalism."

      Or, journalism you agree with.

    4. Ian Johnston Silver badge

      Re: Smart bombs

      This shows the danger of single issue polling. For years it was clear that (a) most Britons would prefer that we left the EU but (b) didn't really care whether we did or not. As a result, EU membership didn't influence election results to any significant extent ... except European Parliament ones, they didn't matter. But when in/out was presented as a standalone choice, the preference became clear and our economy was screwed.

      Of course it's arguable that the public desire to leave should have been heeded long before, but since nobody cared much about it it's also arguable that it was fine to leave things as they were.

      However, now that the right have the taste for blood, what new single issue might they bring in front of us? Restoration of the death penalty, a complete ban on abortion, an end to equal marriage and a return to workhouses would probably all get majority support.

      1. Danny 2

        Re: Smart bombs

        Hi Ian,

        However, now that the right have the taste for blood, what new single issue might they bring in front of us? Restoration of the death penalty, a complete ban on abortion, an end to equal marriage and a return to workhouses would probably all get majority support.

        The right have been growing in the UK since the late nineties. It's been scary and ignored for too long, but you are correct to try to identify issues that they play on.

        I feel abortion and equal marriage are done deals in the UK, I feel the vast tide of public opinion will not be swayed on these in the next thirty years.

        They no longer talk about the death penalty except after the worst of murders, and that is arguable. It's more of a cost issue, paying to keep people alive in horrendous conditions or just executing a few innocents.

        Workhouses? They've been here for decades. I was twice made to attend 'The New Deal', Blair's day prison for poor people when I was homeless. Must've cost thousands for nothing. What would have helped me was a postal address.

        You didn't list it but the right's main recruiting issue remains immigration. That label covers a variety of sins, and to dismiss all concerns as racism is misguided and self-defeating. You need to engage with it, argue it.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "We refuse to be measured by any useful measurement."

    -- Facebook talking head.

    1. yetanotheraoc Silver badge

      In other news

      FB veep of integrity thinks genocide is okay -- it was recommended by an algorithm.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    deepfake technology to generate fake private parts in place of the pixelation

    I wondered if it's a crime to deepfake in Japan them 'private parts' with non-human bits. I dunno... beaks, stalks? Whatever takes your fancy?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: deepfake technology to generate fake private parts in place of the pixelation

      ...tentacles...

      (merely doing the research... someone has to do it)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: deepfake technology to generate fake private parts in place of the pixelation

        One wonders if hentai is a response to these laws.

        1. iron Silver badge

          Re: deepfake technology to generate fake private parts in place of the pixelation

          Tentacle porn was literally created by those laws.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: deepfake technology to generate fake private parts in place of the pixelation

      What about keeping the censored bits and replacing the rest with CGI robots.

      A new genre of porn?

    3. veti Silver badge

      Re: deepfake technology to generate fake private parts in place of the pixelation

      It would still be a copyright violation. Probably avoids the obscenity charge, but on the other hand, I imagine it would be considerably less marketable.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Upon his arrest the perp was heard to say…

    …well, that de-pixelated quickly!

    …まあ、それはすぐにピクセル化されました!

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I don't see hardcore photos on the streets ...

    ... but I was taught drawing and painting as a young student ... starting work with nudes. The process was to draw the nude and then cloth it in the painting so that the image was structured well and natural - and then I studied human biomechanics later, learning how people move and a huge variety of bodies - as a result people's clothes are irrelevant to me, I know how everyone looks naked when we are all walking in the street.

    I'm posting anonymously because these days this is seen as "bad" but the result for me is that I have a complete lack of interest in pornography - nudity means virtually nothing to me, it just meant hard work as a student painting the clothes over the nudes most of the time. In my mind everyone is naked under their clothes as a result.

    1. KBeee

      Re: I don't see hardcore photos on the streets ...

      Strangely enough, people ARE naked under their clothes.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I don't see hardcore photos on the streets ...

        I'm not - i've got an extra vest on !

        1. David 132 Silver badge

          Re: I don't see hardcore photos on the streets ...

          Yes Granny.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I don't see hardcore photos on the streets ...

          I have a vague recollection, possibly a Monty Python sketch, a strip-tease to the point the character tore off her skin to expose BARE! BONES!

      2. Version 1.0 Silver badge
        Happy

        Re: I don't see hardcore photos on the streets ...

        LOL, I was on Sand Key Beach in Florida back in the days when you had a walk about a mile up a path to get there and it was always full of naked people. After a few hours on the beach the coast guard showed up just off shore and everyone covered themselves up with towels or put their cloths back on ... the coast guard got on the horn and told us that we were committing a crime because we were all naked underneath our towels so everyone ran off - there was no way the coast guard could get ashore to do anything because the water was too shallow. About half the people showed back again when the coast guard took off to check on another beach.

      3. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: I don't see hardcore photos on the streets ...

        Most people are best seen clothed. Seriously

        1. Francis Boyle Silver badge

          I know I am

          I wonder if this Japanese man has software to fix that.

  13. Howard Sway Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    uncensored pornographic content depixelated using machine-learning tools

    I just ran a video of a game of Tetris through it, and frankly the results were so hardcore they'd make Paris blush.........................

  14. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    "the wrong way to look at how we fight hate speech"

    But of course. Any way to look at it is bad if it makes you look bad, especially when looking at actual facts.

    It's much better to just trust that you are doing your best, right ?

    Sure.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Should I commit genocide if it makes everybody happy

    I don't get this, if it makes everybody happy, then why not?

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