Taylor Swift
’s AI-generated explicit images cropped up on Elon Musk-owned
X
(formerly Twitter) last week, causing an uproar on social media. As a response to those images, X has apparently blocked
searches
for ‘Taylor Swift’.
A report in The Verge said that if users search “Taylor Swift” or “Taylor Swift AI” on X, a message appears without returning any images.
The Times of India-Gadgets Now team cross-checked it and found it to be true. When we searched for results using the same prompts, we got, “Something went wrong, but don’t fret — it’s not your fault” message.
However, when we tweaked the prompt to “Taylor Swift AI images” and “Taylor Swift
deepfake
image”, the
platform
returned several images, which included a mix of originally captured photos and some AI-generated photos which were not explicit in nature.
Meanwhile, Joe Benarroch, who is head of business at the company acknowledged the “temporary” measure, meant to “prioritise safety,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
Several images of the pop star started to make rounds on the internet and were shared on X before the company started to remove them. Some images were seen millions of times with one reportedly getting 47 million before it was taken down.
Various politicians and tech CEOs like Microsoft’s Satya Nadella were among those who criticised the development.
X plans content moderation ‘headquarters’ in Austin office
Meanwhile, X said that it will hire 100 full-time employees for a new trust and safety office in Austin, Texas. The plan comes a few days before company CEO Linda Yaccarino will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding X’s handling of child sexual exploitation moderation on January 31.
Soon after Musk took over the company, he fired most of the staff, including the team that is behind flagging and removing ‘inappropriate content’ from the platform.
English (US) ·