DISTURBING AI deepfake images of Taylor Swift were already circulating on the dark web for weeks before they appeared on Twitter.
That’s according to AI and disinformation expert Wasim Khaled who told The U.S. Sun that analysts he works with knew the images had been around for some time.
1
Khaled is the CEO and Co-Founder of Blackbird.AI, an AI-driven Risk and narrative Intelligence platform that’s fighting against disinformation.
He told us: “We work with a number of analysts. These particular deepfakes were circulating on fringe forums for weeks before it went viral.
“So these were being passed around on chat apps and forums for some time.”
Swift is currently waging war on social media bosses after truly grim AI-created images of her in intimate positions were shared on social media.
The AI-generated images were mostly Kansas City Chiefs-themed due to Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce playing for that team.
One of the deepfake pictures was viewed 47million times on X, formerly Twitter, before it was removed.
Things got so bad that the ability to search for Swift’s name on X was briefly removed.
Khaled says Swift will struggle to get the AI images fully removed from the internet and theorized what her team will be doing to stop them spreading.
Most read in News Tech
“Right now, the way she’s going about it and I believe her legal team’s going about it, is to go after the company that many have identified as where it was generated.
“But, there’s a certain futility to that even though it’s important to set an example,” Khaled told The U.S. Sun.
He continued: “The problem then becomes, you can take out the source, you can make examples of some. More will come in.”
Khaled described it as trying to cut the head off a Hydra – the mythical monster with seven heads.
The AI expert compared the takedown battle to the issue of trying to shut down counterfeit goods factories.
“The takedown just draws more attention to the fact that there was a product that was worth making,” he explained.
When asked whether the images could ever be fully removed, Khaled warned: “The internet is forever.”
It’s not just Swift who is being targeted with sick deepfake imagery.
Khaled thinks Swift’s huge status and the fact the images ended up on Twitter have drawn attention to a much deeper issue.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
“There’s also entire sites that are dedicated to deep fake celebrity imagery like this that has been circulating around and talked about for quite some time but nobody’s really done anything about it.
“Again, it’s Taylor Swift so now you have the White House talking about legislation, and as great as that is that it’s drawn attention to the topic for the average person, it really should have been done a long time ago because it’s such an invasion of the integrity of an individual,” he said.
