On social media, there is always someone going gaga over Artificial Intelligence’s ability to bring our imagination to life with a click of a button, forgetting how damaging and harmful it can be in the wrong hands… until concerning and downright disgusting usage of the technology becomes hard to overlook.
Jan. 24, 2024, became that “day,” when fake, AI-created X-rated images of Taylor Swift began circulating on X (formerly Twitter), depicting her in explicit and extremely offensive ways at the Kansas City Chiefs game. As we know, AI websites creating such deepfakes just need a text prompt to make such photos and zero consent from the very real person they are portraying in their clearly problematic creation.
A couple of X accounts, which posted the said images that went viral, have been suspended. And the few that remained or tried to jump on the glaringly problematic use of AI were immediately buried by the ever-present and consistently loyal army of Swifties.
Swifties demand action as they rise to “Protect Taylor Swift”
In the last 24 hours the photos have spent being circulated on Twitter, the major and reigning response has been overwhelming from supporters and fans of the Folklore singer. Though Taylor hasn’t addressed this disappointing usage of a technology that was supposed to be this groundbreaking revolution, the better part of the population has made it clear that a) those reveling in the revolting application of AI are far and few and b) they will not be tolerated and will be openly pointed out as the creeps they are.
While it is exceptional to see the united front Swifties and non-Swifties have put forward to stomp down the graphic AI photos and to defend the singer against those justifying the images by saying Taylor is a “white billionaire,” it is beyond disheartening to acknowledge why it is being needed. There is no sugar-coating this — creating non-consensual images of a person using AI is sexual harassment.
And you know, what makes me more afraid – how real they look. When it comes to a celebrity like Taylor, their legion of fans is quick to decipher what is real and what is fake, but what about someone who is not famous? Someone like you and me? What is stopping anyone from using the technology, which is not at all monitored or kept in check, which allows not just imagination but the most vile ideas to gain life-like presentation to dehumanize and humiliate an unsuspecting individual?
