back to article Attempts to demolish guardrails in AI image generators blamed for lewd Taylor Swift deepfakes

The viral lewd deepfake images of popstar Taylor Swift reportedly stemmed from an online competition on 4chan, challenging contestants to break AI software content filters.  Folks at Graphika, a New York social media analytics firm, have traced the pics directly to 4chan. People were asked to come up with tricks to bypass the …

  1. Sora2566 Silver badge

    4Chan, please stop living up to your reputation...

    1. David 132 Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Down.

      Living "down".

  2. jake Silver badge

    4chan still exists?

    Huh. Who knew?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Will MS et al hire the 4chan'ers

    who are demonstrably able to test & break their supposed "guardrails" or take the easier route of letting the govt "solve" the problem by creating increasingly convoluted initialisms masquerading as useful law?

    1. Just Enough

      Re: Will MS et al hire the 4chan'ers

      You are supposing that the 4chan'ers are interested in being employed to the job, or that the skills to break something are the same as the skills to prevent it.

      1. Catkin Silver badge

        Re: Will MS et al hire the 4chan'ers

        >or that the skills to break something are the same as the skills to prevent it

        Bug bounties don't require providing the fix to pay out.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Will MS et al hire the 4chan'ers

        > You are supposing that the 4chan'ers are interested in being employed to the job

        They already seem to be quite enjoying themselves breaking something, so that bit is in place - then being paid just to show how to do what you've already done (and MS won't be publishing your methods any time soon, so they'd still be one up on the other 4chans).

        It doesn't have to be a 9 to 5 employment.

        > or that the skills to break something are the same as the skills to prevent it.

        If that was a requirement then there are an awful lot of QA Teams and Tiger Teams and Red Teams and Play Testers out there who you've just got fired.

      3. HandleBaz

        Re: Will MS et al hire the 4chan'ers

        You still need people with good sledgehammer skills to test your wall.

        I expect most dwellers would be happy to get a check from MIcrosoft and friends, and that a shocking amount of them already work in tech, or are training for it.

  4. bronskimac

    Pornographic fakes of celebrities have been around for years. It is hardly surprising new tools have been turned to the task. AI deepfakes videos of celebs have also been circulating for many years, but hardly raised a blip in the media. Must be an election year...

    1. Korev Silver badge

      > AI deepfakes videos of celebs have also been circulating for many years, but hardly raised a blip in the media.

      Taylor Swift is probably rich enough for the lawmakers to take notice. I'm sure deepfakes of someone less wealthy aren't considered worthy of attention...

      1. Gene Cash Silver badge

        I don't know why this is downvoted... this problem was totally ignored until it happened to her, then all of a sudden it's a massive problem and people are calling for public hangings.

    2. Martin Summers

      "Must be an election year..."

      Nope, the media has just gone mad over this newfangled AI taking over the world. As you say, the fakes have been around forever. It's a new fad and they'll get over it. Simply because much as they might look realistic, it still isn't actually the person. I'm really not sure what all the fuss is.

  5. aerogems Silver badge
    Facepalm

    As much as I try to be a proponent of free speech and expression, there are just so many things wrong with this whole scenario. Starting with the non-consensual nature and extending on to misogyny and pedophilia.

  6. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    Spot the weasel word

    "We are continuing to investigate these images and have strengthened our existing safety systems to further prevent our services from being misused to help generate images like them"

    It's "help", if course. Spokespeak translation: We didn't actually generate the images, all we did was help.

  7. Postscript

    4chan feeding Xchan, who would have guessed? There's functionally not much difference these days.

  8. Zack Mollusc

    why is nobody...

    ..discussing the horrifying work being done by geneticists? I recently saw a documentary about a gigantic deformed mouse which had escaped from the lab and was driving a steamboat whilst whistling. I have not been able to sleep since.

    1. that one in the corner Silver badge

      Re: why is nobody...

      And the things they've done to ducks. Oh dear heaven, the ducks!

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