Taylor Swift's Deepfake: US lawmakers, White House 'alarmed' by the images, show concerns over AI menace

While the advent of artificial intelligence has revolutionised the way the internet works, things seem to have taken a turn for the worse, as now any piece of public information and data can be converted into a deepfake to spread misinformation. Several videos of popular celebrities and personalities are now circulating all over the internet, blurring the lines between what is real and what is fake.

That being said, while deepfakes have swept across the landscape of social media, jeopardising the essence of several professional identities, the recent victim of the same was none other than American popstar Taylor Swift.

Swift’s explicit pictures were recently generated through AI and circulated widely across social media. From her fans backlashing over the same to federal lawmakers and White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre, many have come forward sharing their concerns regarding the alarming situation of deep fakes.

This has not just drawn attention to the rising cases of deepfakes on social media but also reignited calls to strengthen legislation around AI, particularly when it is being misused for sexual abuse. With Taylor Swift being the latest victim of AI deepfake, let’s know in detail about the entire case.

Taylor Swift deepfake

Last week, several AI-generated sexually explicit pictures of Taylor Swift started circulating on social media, particularly gaining traction on X. One of the pictures of the popstar was viewed around 45 million times and was live on the internet for approximately 17 hours before it was taken down.

Following this, Elon Musk’s X banned searches for Swift, especially inquiries related to her photos. Instagram and Threads, on the other hand, allowed searches for Swift but displayed a warning message when specifically searching for the images. According to fresh reports, the fake images originated on Telegram and went viral on other social media platforms.

In line with the alarming situation, statements were issued by both X and Meta, strongly asserting the platforms’ zero-tolerance policy. Warnings were also issued regarding necessary actions against accounts that violated the policy.

US lawmakers react to Taylor Swift’s deepfake controversy

Amid all of this, US lawmakers have also come forward, calling for swift legislation to criminalise the creation of the deepfake images as explicit pictures of the American singer-songwriter went viral.

The explicit AI images of Taylor Swift have people wondering: how is this not illegal?

I was astounded, too—so I wrote legislation to make non-consensual deepfakes a federal crime. Join me in advocating for passage of my bill, the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act.

— Joe Morelle (@RepJoeMorelle) January 26, 2024

US Representative Joe Morelle took to his X platform and called out the spread of fake images. While advocating for immediate action on the matter, he also emphasises the passing of the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act.

What’s happened to Taylor Swift is nothing new. For yrs, women have been targets of deepfakes w/o their consent. And w/ advancements in AI, creating deepfakes is easier & cheaper.

This is an issue both sides of the aisle & even Swifties should be able to come together to solve.

— Yvette D. Clarke (@RepYvetteClarke) January 25, 2024

Later, Democratic Rep Yvette D Clarke also echoed similar opinions, stressing that women have been becoming victims of AI for several years now.

White House reacts to deepfake concerns

Similarly, White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre, while addressing reporters on Friday, stated that the White House remains alarmed by the reports on the circulation of false images, specifically naming Taylor Swift.

 

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“We are alarmed by the reports laid out…The President is committed to reducing the risk of generative AI producing images, like through his latest executive order that we announced just in the fall of last year. So this problem is not new. And it’s one that the Biden-Harris administration has been prioritising since day one. We have taken this very seriously. Again, this is alarming to us,” she said.