Hundreds of seemingly everyday AI apps hide sexually abusive deepfake features

A WIRED investigation found that a network of more than 400 apps and domains disguised as everyday services such as pet photography and language teaching secretly offers features to generate sexually abusive deepfake images and videos from uploaded photos. According to reverse engineering by AI Forensics researcher Paul Bouchaud, the apps report information such as source and language to a server at launch, and the server side decides whether to show the normal version or load a hidden deepfake interface; entering and downloading from a Meta ad click is one of the trigger conditions. The network has appeared since the end of 2025, registering about 30 such apps per week at its peak; in September, 27 were listed on Google Play, with cumulative downloads exceeding 350,000, of which DiffAI had more than 100,000 downloads.