AI is the death of porn

I have a friend, let’s call her Ellie, who has a diverting side hustle: she sells erotic images of herself online: nude, semi-nude, basically nude but in roller-skates and smoking Cohiba cigars. That kind of thing. She does this on a site many people will know: OnlyFans, which has become the site for women (and it is mainly young women) who want to make money from exhibiting themselves for the sexual arousal of online subscribers.

Ellie knows that some people might find her part-time job indecent or ill-advised, she doesn’t remotely care. As she says, it’s her body, her choice. It’s all adults, she has no kids or employers to be shamed or scandalised and, besides, half the modern world is sexting nudes for free whereas she is making nice ‘prosecco money’, as she puts it. Win win.

Unfortunately the next time I meet Ellie for a glass of Italian fizz, I will have to give her some bad news.