Inappropriate photos of famous singer Taylor Swift, created by an artificial intelligence (AI) tool, went viral on social media this week. The incident clearly shows the devastating consequences of the malicious use of artificial intelligence.
The fake images of Taylor Swift were primarily circulated on X, formerly known as Twitter. The photos showed the singer in provocative poses and were viewed by millions of users before being removed from the social platforms.
Like most major social media platforms, X's policies prohibit sharing crafted content that could confuse and harm people.
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" This is a prime example of the ways in which artificial intelligence is being used for many nefarious purposes, without adequate safeguards to protect the public ," Ben Decker , who runs Memetica, a digital research service, told CNN
Decker said the exploitation of generative AI tools to create harmful content targeting public and private individuals is spreading faster than ever on social media.
“Social media companies don’t really have effective plans to monitor content,” he said.
X, for example, has laid off several people from its content moderation and relies mostly on automated systems and user. Meta has also made cuts to its teams dealing with misinformation.
It's unclear where the AI-generated inappropriate photos of Taylor Swift came from. While some images were found on sites like Instagram and Reddit, the problem was bigger on X.
Decker believes that AI companies, companies , regulators, and society itself need to discuss the issue of AI abuse and find a solution, as inappropriate, fake, and dangerous content will continue to spread.
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Decker said, however, that targeting Taylor Swift could bring more attention to the problem. The huge group of loyal “Swifties” expressed their anger on social media, bringing the issue to the forefront. In 2022, a Ticketmaster crash before her Eras Tour concert sparked outrage online ,leading to several legislative efforts to crack down on consumer-unfriendly ticketing policies.
Perhaps the same will happen for inappropriate photos generated by AI.
“When you have people like Taylor Swift who are so big, maybe that’s what drives action from lawmakers and tech because they can’t afford to have America’s sweetheart in a public campaign against them,” he said. “I think they should make her feel better, because she probably has more influence on the internet.”
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What happened with Taylor Swift shows how artificial intelligence can be used for what is known as “revenge porn,” where the abuser posts nude and generally inappropriate photos of the victim online without their consent.
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These images, generated by artificial intelligence, spread quickly on social media because they are easily accessible and easy to share . Users can click a button to share the image on various social media platforms
Additionally, these images are often interesting, which makes them stand out in a person's feed. This can grab users' attention and encourage them to share the image with their own followers.
Finally, AI-generated images can spark conversations or provoke reactions, which can increase the likelihood of reaching even more platforms. Users may want to share their thoughts or see others’ reactions, which can lead to further dissemination of the image.
Nine US states currently have laws against the creation or sharing of non-consensual deepfake photos, which are synthetic images created to mimic someone.
Source: edition.cnn.com
