Entertainment

Deepfake Explicit Images Of Taylor Swift Spread On Social Media. Her Fans Are Fighting Back

Published

10 months ago

2024-01-27

Kiara Grace

NEW YORK — Pornographic deepfake photos of Taylor Swift are circulating online, making her the most visible victim of a problem that tech companies and anti-abuse organisations have struggled to address.

This week, sexually obscene and abusive, false photographs of Swift became viral on the social networking platform X.

Her devoted “Swifties” soon rallied, launching a counteroffensive on the platform formerly known as Twitter with a #ProtectTaylorSwift hashtag to flood it with more favourable images of the pop diva. Some said they were reporting accounts that were spreading deepfakes.

Reality Defender, a deepfake detection company, said it had tracked a flood of nonconsensual sexual material featuring Swift, particularly on X. Some photographs also made their way into Meta’s Facebook and other social media sites.

Deepfake Explicit Images Of Taylor Swift Spread On Social Media. Her Fans Are Fighting Back

“Unfortunately, they spread to millions and millions of users by the time that some of them were taken down,” said Mason Allen, Reality Defender’s head of growth.

The researchers discovered at least a few dozen unique AI-generated photos. The most popular were football-related, depicting a painted or bleeding Swift, which objectified her and, in some cases, inflicted violence on her deepfake character.

According to researchers, the quantity of explicit deepfakes has increased in recent years as the technology for creating such images has become more accessible and user-friendly. These images primarily targeted women, according to a 2019 analysis by AI startup DeepTrace Labs. According to reports, the majority of the dead were South Korean K-pop singers and Hollywood actors.

Brittany Spanos, a senior writer at Rolling Stone who teaches a Swift course at New York University, says Swift’s fans quickly rally in favour of their artist, particularly those who take their devotion seriously and in cases of misconduct.

“This could be a huge deal if she does pursue it to court,” she said.

Deepfake Explicit Images Of Taylor Swift Spread On Social Media. Her Fans Are Fighting Back

Spanos says Swift’s deep fake pornography issue is similar to others she has had in the past, citing her 2017 lawsuit against a radio station DJ who allegedly groped her; jurors awarded Swift $1 in damages, which her attorney, Douglas Baldridge, called “a single symbolic dollar, the value of which is immeasurable to all women in this situation” in the midst of the MeToo movement. (The $1 lawsuit became a pattern later, as seen in Gwyneth Paltrow’s 2023 countersuit against a skier.)

When asked for comment on the false Swift photographs, X linked The Associated Press to a post from its safety account, which stated that the firm strongly bans the distribution of nonconsensual nude images on its platform. Since Elon Musk took over the platform in 2022, the business has significantly reduced the size of its content-moderation teams.

“Our teams are actively removing all identified images and taking appropriate actions against the accounts responsible for posting them,” the business stated in an X post early Friday morning. “We’re closely monitoring the situation to ensure that any further violations are immediately addressed, and the content is removed.”

Meanwhile, Meta stated that it strongly opposes “the content that has appeared across different internet services” and is working to remove it.

“We continue to monitor our platforms for this violating content and will take appropriate action as needed,” the business stated.

A Swift spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment Friday.

Allen stated that the researchers are 90% certain that diffusion models made the images, a generative artificial intelligence model capable of producing fresh and photorealistic images from written instructions. The most well-known are Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and OpenAI’s DALL-E. Allen’s group should have attempted to uncover the origins.

OpenAI stated that it had measures to prohibit the development of damaging information and “decline requests that ask for a public figure by name, including Taylor Swift.”

Deepfake Explicit Images Of Taylor Swift Spread On Social Media. Her Fans Are Fighting Back

Microsoft, which provides an image generator based partly on DALL-E, said Friday that it looked into whether its product had been abused. Like other commercial AI services, it stated that it does not allow “adult or nonconsensual intimate content, and any repeated attempts to produce content that goes against our policies may result in loss of access to the service.”

When asked about the Swift deepfakes on “NBC Nightly News,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told anchor Lester Holt in an interview broadcast Tuesday that there is still more work to be done in terms of establishing AI protections and that “it behoves us to move fast on this.”

“Absolutely, this is alarming and terrible, and so therefore, yes, we have to act,” Nadella said in a statement.

Midjourney, OpenAI, and Stability AI, the makers of Stable Diffusion, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Federal politicians who have submitted proposals to increase restrictions or criminalise deepfake pornography said the event demonstrates why the United States has to establish stronger safeguards.

“For years, women have been victims of nonconsensual deepfakes, so what happened to Taylor Swift is more common than most people realise,” said U.S. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, a Democrat from New York who has presented legislation requiring producers to digitally watermark deepfakes.

“Generative-AI is helping create better deepfakes at a fraction of the cost,” Clarke said.

U.S. Rep. Joe Morelle, another New York Democrat who is supporting a bill to criminalise the spreading of deepfake pornography online, said Swift’s situation was alarming and has grown increasingly common on the internet.

“The images may be fake, but the consequences are very real,” Morelle said. “Deepfakes are happening every day to women everywhere in our increasingly digital world, and it’s time to put a stop to them.”

SOURCE – (AP)

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Entertainment

Gladiator II Rakes in $87 Million in Weekend Debut

Published

6 days ago

2024-11-18

Geoff Brown

Despite not playing in theaters in the United States, Canada, and China until this coming Friday, Gladiator II earned $87 million over the weekend, which is the best foreign opening for a Ridley Scott film to date.

Last week, the picture premiered in 63 countries, including the UK, and grossed $11.4 million from 722 theatres. Particularly impressive was its performance in France, where it raised $10.3 million from 729 outlets.

But this one is a little weaker compared to February’s smash hit sequel, Dune: Part Two, which grossed $97 million worldwide in its opening weekend. At the same time, Deadpool & Wolverine made $233 million for Disney, while Inside Out 2 for Pixar grossed $140 million.

The Fall Guy, an action comedy starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, earned $36.7 million in its opening weekend worldwide, while Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga earned $30 million.

Last Monday, King Charles III attended a screening of Gladiator II in London, capping off a weeks-long worldwide press tour for the film’s cast and production. A Mexican biscuit brand, Rome’s public transportation system, and a German bank VR are just a few multinational brands it has teamed up with to boost its visibility.

In Australia, dessert merchant Oliver Brown offered a special edition of pistachio-heavy puds and drinks dubbed the Emperor’s Collection. The Gladiator II salted caramel latte is available at French Coffee Shop, a business in Paris.

After poor statistics for Venom: The Last Dance and The Rock’s comedy Red One, which premiered worldwide last week, fans hope that Scott’s delayed sequel can lift the global box office for the last month and a half of the year.

Some are predicting a Barbenheimer-style struggle for the top spot in the US box office when Gladiator II and the highly anticipated musical Wicked premiere on the same day, even though double-bill events are unlikely to be very popular.

Gladiator Star Russell Crowe Honored in Rome

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Entertainment

Blizzard’s Remastered Versions Of Warcraft 1 And 2 Are Now Available On PCs.

Published

2 weeks ago

2024-11-13

Salman Ahmad

Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment

(VOR News) – It has been said by Blizzard that it does not intend to remake Warcraft 1 and 2 since the company believes that these games are “just not that fun any longer.”

When the corporation first made this declaration, it has been almost exactly eight years since it was delivered.

However, the firm has only recently made the news that it will be doing precisely that, and as part of the celebrations for Warcraft’s 30th anniversary, both of the remastered versions are now available to play. The celebrations did not start until today.

The public first played Warcraft in 1994.

This game played a significant role in Blizzard’s rise to the top of the competition. In the year that followed, Warcraft 2 was hastily created in order to suit the requirements of the burgeoning fanbase that the first Warcraft had established.

Additionally, the company has just disclosed that they will be remastering the games, and these remasters will contain a variety of additions to the traditional real-time strategic action that is included in the games.

The initial stage of these enhancements to the development process consists of a new collection of hand-drawn pictures that may be toggled on and off in real time. The artistic style of the originals has been said to be completely captured by these photos, according to the assertions made.

Specifically, Blizzard has implemented “modern controls” for Warcraft 1, which include the option to move with a right click, the ability to pick bounding boxes, and a faster progression rate.

These features are all present in the Warcraft game.

The alterations that have been made include these, however they are not the only ones. It is important to note that these changes have been introduced in addition to the user interface and user experience enhancements that have been implemented throughout both games.

Tool tips, health bars, mission decision screens, and increased unit selection are some of the enhancements that have been introduced in this version of the game. As an additional feature, the multiplayer mode that was included in the first version of Warcraft 2 is still included in the remastered version of the game.

As an additional point of interest, each and every one of the legacy custom maps is entirely compatible with the new edition and may be played in the same capacity.

Despite the fact that there is currently no information regarding whether or not Warcraft 1 Remastered and Warcraft 2 Remastered will eventually be made available on other markets, both of these remastered versions of the game are currently available for purchase on Battle.net for personal computers at prices of $9.99 and $14.99, respectively.

Both of these versions of the game are remastered versions of the original game. A Battle Chest bundle is also available for purchase, and it can be purchased for the price of $39.99. All of the titles that have been remastered are included in this bundle, in addition to Blizzard’s Warcraft 3: Reforged, which has been met with a considerable deal of criticism.

Blizzard has been making continual efforts to improve the game ever since it was first made available to the public in the year 2020.

This is despite the fact that the game was met with poor reviews practically immediately after it was released. An entirely new upgrade, version 2.0, is currently being made available to all gamers without delay.

One of the numerous enhancements to the quality of life that are included in this is “much, much more,” in addition to a wide range of options for personalizing the hockey experience within the game and a new ladder.

In addition to the high-definition versions of all of the older Warcraft assets, these upgrades also include new environments and lighting, a redesigned user interface, and a variety of other enhancements.

SOURCE: EG

Entertainment

Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 Returns Without Kevin Costner

Published

2 weeks ago

2024-11-11

Geoff Brown

Yellowstone is finally returning for the second half of its fifth season without Kevin Costner

Yellowstone will finally return for the second half of its fifth season. We have a lot to speak about, such as recalling what is going on in this program, Kevin Costner’s departure, and whether or not season 5, part 2, will truly end Yellowstone.

Season 5 Part 1 ended on a cliffhanger—we could be in for a full-fledged Dutton family civil war—and we’ve been waiting for nearly two years.

A quick recap: nothing changes from how this program usually goes, except it’s a little more intense. Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) despised Jamie Dutton. Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) despised Beth Dutton.

That has always been the case since childhood trauma, but now things have escalated. Their father, John Dutton (Kevin Costner), is now Montana’s Governor, and Jamie, who should be his top legal thinker, is played by a group of local businessmen known as Market Equities.

Anyway, Jamie and Beth are attempting to kill each other, and John appears to be leaning toward Beth’s side.

Given Kevin Costner’s public exit from the program, part 2 of season 5 will be especially noteworthy. Long story short, he departed to make his Horizon films and never returned.

So, how will Yellowstone pick up the tale without John? That much is unknown, which adds to the season’s appeal!

Of course, our other characters continue to do what they do. Rip (Cole Hauser) is doing his Rip thing. Kayce (Luke Grimes) oversees the ranch. His wife, Monica (Kelsey Asbille), is still grieving the loss of their unborn son.

But we do have some high stakes to pick up—and they will begin on Sunday, November 10th, whether Kevin Costner appears on screen or not.

Another twist: While we believed season 5 would conclude the Yellowstone story, part 2 is in the works.

There have also been suggestions that Yellowstone could return for a sixth season, starring Cole Hauser and Kelly Reilly as Rip and Beth. Hmm, certainly!

Yellowstone’s fifth season, part 2, will air each episode of the truncated half-season on Sunday nights at 8:00 PM EST.

The episodes will then be shown on linear TV, Hulu with Live TV, or the Paramount Network website and app for those with a cable subscription. The premiere will also re-air on CBS at 10:00 p.m. EST.

Yellowstone season 5, part 2, will consist of six episodes, the first of which is currently accessible to watch and stream. That implies the series might end with five more episodes of Western family drama.