It’s been a strange few weeks for Taylor Swift. In many ways, this is her best era – she’s in love with a football player, she’s rich and successful, her tour and her albums are making billions of dollars, she spends time with her many friends and her three cats are happy and healthy. And yet outside forces are doing the most to hurt her or make her feel unsafe. There’s the sh-t with her stalker, who has been arrested three times in five days outside of Taylor’s home – he keeps being released from custody and he just heads right back to Taylor’s apartment building. It’s insane that the NYPD can’t do more. Then, something else happened this week – someone created very graphic AI images of Taylor and they were posted all over social media. Taylor’s fans activated and they’ve been systematically getting the photos removed. Taylor is reportedly really upset about it.
Taylor Swift is reportedly “furious” over the AI-generated photos of her circulating social media. In fact, the “Cruel Summer” singer is considering taking legal action after the graphic images from NSFW websites went viral this week, according to a source.
“Whether or not legal action will be taken is being decided, but there is one thing that is clear: These fake, AI-generated images are abusive, offensive, exploitative and done without Taylor’s consent and/or knowledge,” the insider told the Daily Mail Thursday.
“The Twitter account that posted them does not exist anymore. It is shocking that the social media platform even let them be up to begin with,” the source added. The report said Swift’s family and friends are also “furious.”
“Legislation needs to be passed to prevent this, and laws must be enacted,” the insider argued.
Although Swift, 34, has not publicly commented on the scandal, her legion of loyal fans were quick to flood X, formerly known as Twitter, with positive posts about her in an attempt to combat the spreading of inappropriate images. The posts, known as “deepfakes,” showed the “Love Story” singer in a variety of provocative and offensive poses at a Kansas City Chiefs game, which her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, plays for.
I saw one of the images on Twitter and I was disgusted on Taylor’s behalf. Those AI images are so exploitative and they should be considered “revenge p0rn.” I genuinely hope that Taylor being targeted with this sh-t leads to some movement on a legislative level. I keep thinking about Taylor’s Time POTY interview, where she talked about how she didn’t want to hide away anymore, she wanted to live her life and not worry about stepping outside or going to dinner with friends. And then as soon as she’s in a space where she’s really feeling herself and everything is going great for her, she’s got stalkers and these disgusting AI images. It f–king sucks.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
-
- New York, NY – Singer Taylor swift and her actress bestie Blake Lively are spotted arriving for dinner at hotspot Lucali this evening in Brooklyn, New York City. Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 10 JANUARY 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: North Woods / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- New York, NY – Pop icon Taylor Swift was seen heading to the recording studio, fueling fan speculation about the possible rerecording of ‘Reputation (Taylor’s Version)’ as her next album release. Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 11 JANUARY 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- New York, NY – Singer Taylor Swift stepped out in style, wrapped in a long dark coat, after a recording session at the renowned Electric Lady Studio in New York City. Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 18 JANUARY 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- New York, NY – Singer Taylor Swift stepped out in style, wrapped in a long dark coat, after a recording session at the renowned Electric Lady Studio in New York City. Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 18 JANUARY 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- New York City, NY – Taylor Swift, alongside Cara Delevingne and Brittany Mahomes, sets the tone for an elegant night at Nobu in New York City. Their presence illuminates the esteemed eatery, infusing New York’s culinary landscape with star-studded allure. Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 23 JANUARY 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- New York City, NY – Taylor Swift, alongside Cara Delevingne and Brittany Mahomes, sets the tone for an elegant night at Nobu in New York City. Their presence illuminates the esteemed eatery, infusing New York’s culinary landscape with star-studded allure. Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 23 JANUARY 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
I would think so! She’s pretty savvy, though, and knows how to put up a fight. (Right, streamers? Film distributors? Scooter?) They might have just messed with the wrong Marine…
Terrible and I agree that it’s gross and it does feel like revenge pr0n but this kind of shit will continue to happen with the advent of AI and it will happen to a LOT of women much less wealthy, powerful, and connected than Swift—women who won’t have the power or resources to stop it.
My guess is that eventually no one will trust anything they see online, especially naked photos. And that isn’t a preferred outcome AT ALL but this is the risk of this evil technology being introduced to the world. As the technology continues to grow and advance, we’ll realize how limitless the potential for bad is when it comes to AI and it’s gonna get REAL effin scary.
AI isn’t evil. People who make exploitive images are evil. Also, AI AKA machine learning has been around for decades and you probably use it in your daily life.
AI IS evil the way guns are evil: the propensity for bad far outweighs any propensity for good.
And the fact that I *might* be forced to use AI in my day-to-day life doesn’t change that–it’s actually just further proof of the lack of transparency and explainability associated with the technology. Those deep learning models are confusing and difficult to understand even for the people that create and work with them.
And that’s to say nothing about the inevitable job losses, social manipulation and surveillance, lack of privacy, weakening ethics, potential for autonomous weapons, loss of human influence…the list goes on and on.
AI is used by banks to detect fraud, it’s used by navigation apps like Waze to route around traffic, it’s used by Netflix to recommend programming, all social media uses AI to deliver personalized content. The ads on this website are selected using AI. It’s like saying all painkillers are evil because some people abuse them.
So, nobody is going to give a shit about the convenience of streaming or navigational apps when none of us have jobs because AI replaced us. And if you think this is an exaggeration, I assure you it is NOT–these are very real and valid fears. Look, my brother has been working in tech as a programmer for almost 30 years and he’s been sounding the alarm about this technology for more than a decade now. He’s not an alarmist and he’s not a reactionary: he just sees the writing on the wall in a way that many of us who are largely divorced from the development and inner-workings of this technology don’t.
And it IS similar to painkillers and firearms in that it is largely unregulated, highly lucrative, and absolutely deadly in the wrong hands.
The technology will always be used in evil, destructive ways because profit is paramount and people are greedy. If we had never introduced this technology to society, we wouldn’t have to face the extremely destructive downside yet here we are.
TBH anyone who doesn’t acknowledge the reality of AI either has an investment in the technology or is in deep, DEEP denial.
Firstly the issue with AI is unless you know what it has been trained with, you will likely end up with a racist and misogynist program as it would cost more to check the sources used. This has already be found in the programs used for benefit checks and because “the algorithm is too complex to understand” it takes outsider crunching the data afterward to prove there is an issue.
The recent Art AI was trained using stolen images from artists that had their work online.
The most useful explanation of AI is that it is not intelligent. Chat GPT is just an electronic version of a parrot. It doesn’t understand what it says, it just has an infinite memory of phrases and will put them together in a way that it has been written before.
It’s happened to the teenage star of Dr Strange and the multiverse of madness and babysitters club. And she’s a minor! It’s so gross that these aren’t pulled down right away. I hope Taylor does sue and her clout inspires laws against these kind of images.
Oh no! I love Xochitl Gomez who was first season Dawn. The Babysitter’s club revival was such a gem. All the actresses are adorable and feel oddly protective of them. This is such a horrible thing to have done to someone.
X under Musk is a hell hole everyone should boycott and get off it.
I’m just surprised that we don’t hear about this with more celebrities. All I know is I do not trust that any photo, and not any video made in the last couple years, at face value
Do not go searching for Henry Cavill deepfakes unless you want to see the same sort of horrible garbage. And probably worse, because there seems to be a whole community creating it. Someone wrote an essay about it, so you can find and read that. It has what are said to be some of the less offensive images, which are in line with the Taylor r*pe p*rn.
I’m sure there are whole communities creating content about actresses and other female public figures. This is just a moment where it spilled into the mainstream. I just found the Cavill article when doing research on deepfakes.
It’s a real problem and one that isn’t going to be going away with the current tech bro money driven social media platforms we have.
I will start by saying, I am not a Taylor super fan, I like some of her stuff but just cannot wrap my mind around how people are so obsessed with her.
THAT BEING SAID. I’m furious on her behalf with this. It is disgusting and everyone should be worried about AI and the evil possibilities that it has. Taylor is a woman with means and financial resources and if anyone can fight something like this legally, she can. I hope she is the person who can push for legislation around AI and what can be done with it and that many other powerful people come alongside the fight so that it cannot be ignored.
AI makes me genuinely nervous… like did we not learn anything from watching the Terminator movies? Haha.
We did not learn from the Terminator movies, but that’s not the exact way things will go down. Ai will not be able to create new knowledge for a long time yet. It will however dramatically change the workforce, deepen the divide been haves and have notes, and in conjunction with despotic leaders create a global oligarchy supported by tech driven military power. There will be rebels and attempts at revolution, but the overlords will continue to be human, not Ai. ( Not that I lie awake worrying about this)
It was mostly a tongue in cheek comment, but I do think that AI has the ability to wreak havoc on the world as we know it. I find the perspective of the “overlords being human not AI” almost worse than any Terminator movie. Thanks for your thoughts, Bettyrose.
It’s not really required for you to tell us how you don’t like her before you defend her. Why do people do this lol
Literally nowhere did I say I don’t like her, I just don’t think that she exudes rainbows and sunshine from simply existing. I get your point, but can someone not be neutral on her as a person? And express that? I find super hardcore Swifties so annoying that maybe it is more commentary on not wanting to be grouped in with any of them while expressing an area where I respect and admire her.
I think that when it comes to things like fighting battles that everyone benefits from (streaming or the case where she was sexually assaulted) she totally kicks ass and this is a time where her money and power will benefit so many other women.
Excellent points made by you Grey. I took this as you saying you’re on her side without being a super fan-that you can acknowledge how unfair this is to her while hopefully she can help with making some waves to stop some of this disgusting technology that is coming to harm humanity at a very disastrous level.
This has been coming since the beginning. All of these men, and we know it’s primarily men in charge of these companies, these legislative bodies, men in the street, just imagine this is your daughter, this is your wife, this is your girlfriend, this is your mother, your sister, this is your aunt. It just hasn’t happened yet, but it’s coming.
These barbaric losers are going to virtually sexually assault women they are anything but disinterested in, because rape is about power.
I hope the Swifties go effing medieval.
This reminds me when there was a string of break-ins in the neighborhood and everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they hit the house of one of the mobbed up guys who live nearby.
One thing about Taylor, she’s willing to fight and take one for the team. Like with the streaming royalties, she didn’t just get better rates for herself, she insisted on them for everyone. Same with her groping lawsuit. It put a public face and consequences on the humiliations female celebrities have to face. It’s not talked about enough when MeToo comes up. Made a huge impression on her young fans. Her fight on this will help a lot of young (and older) women see that they shouldn’t have to put up with this.
@Concern Fae:
“they hit the house of one of the mobbed up guys” lol Only seeing this now but that’s exactly the equivalent of being dumb enough to poke the Swifties bear.
Taylor hasn’t done much that hasn’t gotten an enormous side-eye from me, but in this fight I support her 100000000000%. This is just another way in which a woman’s right to her own body is under attack. I hope she fights, and I hope she destroys them.
That being said, it shouldn’t be up to Taylor freaking Swift to be our one sole defense against predatory tech. What the f*ck is everyone doing here? There’s sort of an important election coming up, surely deep fakes aren’t going to be used to completely erode the few aspects of the US election process that haven’t already come completely off the rails yet.
This is just so dark because it is SO EASY to combat this. These platforms just don’t want to, and nobody is making them, which is the worst part of all because this societal damage runs soooo deep and will only get worse.
Only this week there was a horrible news story about a 14 year old girl from London who died by suicide after her male classmates created explicit deepfake images of her. It’s utterly terrifying what this technology can do and what evil people will use it for. There needs to be laws against this NOW. I hope that with Taylor’s power and influence she can make some real changes, but I’m sorry that it had to be her (or anyone for that matter) because no one deserves to go through this.
No one deserves to go through this is 100% correct. Reminds me of the crazy story I watched on Netflix – The Most Hated Man on the Internet. And what is a pattern is that is men preying on women. I hope legislation is passed to stop these people.
My 23-year-old daughter was telling me about this last night. She’s just filled with despair. As she points out, her company posts photographic portraits of their staff. Even if she shuts down all her social media, if some guy has beef with her, he can snatch her face off the internet and ruin her reputation and professional life with a deepfake from that. I feel like we’re getting to a point of no return for women. First Dobbs, now this nightmare. I feel confident that someone in Trump’s universe will soon be releasing a Nikki Haley deepfake. I think we need to Lysistrata this sh*t. Boycott platforms that don’t correct this type of abuse. Boycott businesses that don’t address it. Vote, vote, vote for representatives that understand that women are human beings!!!
This is so gross, and I hope she sues them into bankruptcy and forces legislation. I mean you know if she pushes it she will, she has congress looking into Ticketmaster and she did force streamers and universal to pay artists better.
So much of her life looks great but some of it looks like hell on earth, but one thing you can say about Taylor is she’s a fighter. So she will have no issue taking this on and she will win, which is great because this will happen to young girls that have no money to fight and so if she can get it regulated and even bankrupt the companies then it will help a lot of people.
The US Congress does not have global power. As long as anyone anywhere on the globe is making deep fakes and as long as VPNs provide the ability to circumvent local laws, this will continue. I don’t begin to know the solution, here, but this is just the beginning. Ai is evolving at a rapid pace, even if legislation was keeping up the ability to shutdown something that exists outside physical boundaries is questionable. But we can at least try to address the elements of our own culture that find it acceptable to humiliate and demean women.
And Taylor is not queen of the world. She can sue the companies and bankrupt them, she can push for legislation in our country and maybe others will follow but she can only do so much.
I hope Taylor sues those responsible into oblivion, and makes an example of any site that used those images.
And I agree with Nuks: I hope the Swifties go scorched-earth.
Women have to deal with so much disgusting sh*t.
We’re living in hell, folks. Misogyny is running amok right now in the 21st century. Think of all the anonymous victims of these crimes who we never hear about because they’re not rich and famous like Taylor Swift.
I agree this is vile and hope there is legislation brought forth on matters such as this as well as addressing rabid, unhinged “fans” who engage in “doxxing”…by its very nature is to terrorize and harass. All of this is scum behavior and the persons engaging should be held accountable.
Perfectly understandable to have strong feelings about it, but unfortunately very little can be done to stop this. Copyright infringement on her image maybe but there will always be another avenue for deepfakes and those who want to engage will find a way. I’m sorry to say that celebs like Tay will have to find a way not to be emotionally invested in how their image is misued. Yes, hire an army of lawyers. Don’t give in. But try not to let it haunt you.