Surfer reports harassment with nude photos taken with… Artificial Intelligence

Mariana Rocha Assis, 26 years old, says she is living in true “emotional hell”; ‘hacker’ asked for 5 thousand euros to not make the photographs public

Portuguese surfer Mariana Rocha Assis, 26, took to social media to report a case of harassment that she says she has been experiencing for several weeks.

The young Portuguese woman reports that it all started on November 17th, the day she received nude images of herself on her cell phone, generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI).

«I have been going through emotional hell lately and I would like to share my story, as I believe there are more victims like me suffering from this new type of harassment. This person in question told me to pay him a total of five thousand euros, which I had until today to send him, but I didn’t. He told me they will send it to my family, friends, sponsors and hotel clients. There is a lot of talk about how things have evolved. Today I saw the dark side of this scary world. I lost a lot of money, I’m going to have photos of me circulating online. And the scariest thing is that it’s happening to a lot of people. So be careful,” he wrote.

The 2017 surfskate world champion leaves a warning: «These damn hackers they are destroying lives, destroying dreams. Mine is still alive, I’m slowly getting there. As much as I believe Artificial Intelligence has its good points, it’s scary where we’re headed.”

Five years ago, Mariana Rocha Assis experienced a horror episode when she was stabbed during an attempted rape. She was alone on the Estoril wall, returning home, when a stranger aggressively approached her and tried to rape her. When defending herself, the surfer ended up being stabbed in the abdomen.