White House "Alarmed" After Taylor Swift, Joe Biden Deepfakes Surface

Deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence have proliferated on social media this month, claiming a string of high-profile victims and elevating the risks of manipulated media into the public conversation ahead of a looming US election cycle.

Pornographic images of singer Taylor Swift, robocalls of US President Joe Biden's voice, and videos of dead children and teenagers detailing their own deaths all have gone viral - but not one of them was real.

Misleading audio and visuals created using artificial intelligence aren't new, but recent advancements in AI technology have made them easier to create and harder to detect. The torrent of highly publicized incidents just weeks into 2024 has escalated concern about the technology among lawmakers and regular citizens.

"We are alarmed by the reports of the circulation of false images," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday. "We are going to do what we can to deal with this issue."

At the same time, the spread of AI-generated fake content on social networks has offered a stress test for platforms' ability to police them. On Wednesday, explicit AI-generated deepfaked images of Swift amassed tens of millions of views on X, the website formerly known as Twitter that is owned by Elon Musk.

Although sites like X have rules against sharing synthetic, manipulated content, the posts portraying Swift took hours to remove. One remained up for about 17 hours and had more than 45 million views, according to the Verge, a sign that these images can go viral long before action is taken to stop them.

Cracking Down

Companies and regulators have a responsibility in stopping the "perverse customer journey" of obscene manipulated content, said Henry Ajder, an AI expert and researcher who has advised governments on legislation against deepfake pornography. We need to be "identifying how different stakeholders, whether they are search engines, tool providers or social media platforms, can do a better job creating friction in the process from someone forming the idea to actually creating and sharing the content."

The Swift episode prompted fury from her legions of fans and others on X, causing the phrase "protect Taylor Swift" to trend on the social platform. It's not the first time the singer has been subjected to her image being used in explicit AI manipulation, though it's the first with this level of public outrage.

The top 10 deepfake websites hosted about 1,000 videos referencing "Taylor Swift" at the end of 2023, according to a Bloomberg review. Internet users graft her face onto the body of porn performers or offer paying customers the ability to "nudify" victims using AI technology.

Many of these videos are available through a quick Google search, which has been the primary traffic driver to deepfake websites, according to a 2023 Bloomberg report. While Google offers a form letting victims request removal of deepfake content, many complain the process resembles a game of whack-a-mole. At the time of Bloomberg's report last year, a spokesperson for Google said the Alphabet Inc. company designs its search ranking systems to avoid shocking people with unexpected harmful or explicit content they don't want to see.

Almost 500 videos referencing Swift were hosted on the top deepfake site, Mrdeepfakes.com. In December, the site received 12.3 million visits, according to data from Similarweb.

Targeting Women

"This case is horrific and no doubt extremely distressing for Swift, but it's sadly not as groundbreaking as some may think," Ajder said. "The ease of creating this content now is disturbing and affecting women and girls, regardless of where they in the world or their social status."

As of Friday afternoon, explicit AI-generated images of Swift were still on X. A spokesperson for the platform directed Bloomberg to the company's existing statement, which said non-consensual nudity is against its policy and the platform is actively trying to remove such images.

Users of popular AI image-maker Midjourney are already taking advantage of at least one of the fake visuals of Swift to come up with written prompts that can be used to make more explicit pictures with AI, according to requests in a Midjourney Discord channel reviewed by Bloomberg. Midjourney has a feature in which people can upload an existing image to its Discord chat channel - where prompts are input to tell the technology what to create - and it will generate text that can be used to make another image like it via Midjourney or another similar service.

The output of that feature is on a public channel for any of the more than 18 million members of Midjourney's Discord server to see, giving them the equivalent of tips and tricks for fine-tuning AI-generated pornographic imagery. On Friday afternoon, there were nearly 2 million people active on the server.

Midjourney and Discord didn't respond to requests for comment.

Surging Numbers

Amid the AI boom, the number of new pornographic deepfake videos has already surged more than ninefold since 2020, according to research from independent analyst Genevieve Oh. At the end of last year, the top 10 sites offering this content hosted 114,000 videos, among which Swift had already been a common target.

"Whether it's AI or real, it still damages people," said Heather Mahalik Barnhart, a digital forensics expert who develops curriculum for the SANS Institute, a cyber education organization. With the images of Swift, "even though it's fake, imagine the minds of her parents who had to see that - you know, when you see something, you can't make it go away."

Just days before the images of Swift created a firestorm, a deepfake audio message of Biden had been spread in advance of the New Hampshire presidential primary election. Global disinformation experts said that robocall, which sounded like Biden telling voters to skip the primary, was the most alarming deepfaked audio they had heard yet.

There are already concerns that deepfaked audio or video could play a role in upcoming elections, fueled by how fast things spread on social media. The fake Biden message was dialed directly into people's telephones, which provided fewer means for expects to scrutinize the call.

"The New Hampshire primary gives us the first taste of the situation we have to deal with," said Siwei Lyu, a professor at the University at Buffalo who specializes in deepfakes and digital media forensics.

Difficult to Detect

Even on social media, there are currently no reliable detection capabilities, which leaves a frustratingly roundabout process that depends on someone spotting a piece of content and doubting it enough to go to the source to confirm it. That's a presumably more likely scenario for a prominent public figure like Swift or Biden than a local official or private citizen. Even if companies identify and remove these videos, they spread so quickly that often the damage has already been done.

A viral deepfaked video of a victim of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, Shani Louk, has amassed more than 7.5 million views on ByteDance Ltd.'s TikTok app since it was posted more than three months ago, even after Bloomberg singled it out for the company in a December story about the platform's struggle to police AI-generated videos of dead victims, including children.

The video-sharing app has banned AI-generated content of private citizens or children, and says "gruesome" or "disturbing" video is also not allowed. As recently as this week, deepfaked videos of dead children voicing the details of abuse and their death were still popping into users' feeds and amassing thousands of views. TikTok removed the videos sent by Bloomberg for comment. As of Friday, dozens of videos and accounts that exclusively post this kind of disturbing fake content are still live.

TikTok has said it's investing in detection technologies and is working to educate users on the dangers of AI-generated content. Other social networks have voiced similar sentiments.

"You can't respond to something, you can't react to something - let alone regulate something - if you can't first detect it," said Nick Clegg, president of public affairs at Facebook and Instagram owner Meta Platforms Inc., at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this month.

Few Laws

There is currently no US federal law banning deepfakes, including those that are pornographic in nature. Some states have implemented laws regarding deepfake pornography, but their application is inconsistent across the country, making it difficult for victims to hold the creators to account. 

Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said Friday that the administration is working with AI companies on unilateral efforts that would watermark generated images to make them easier to identify as fakes. Biden has also appointed a task force to address online harassment and abuse, while the US Justice Department created a hotline for those victimized by image-based sexual abuse.

Congress has began discussing legislative steps to protect celebrities' and artists' voices from AI usage in some cases. Absent from those conversations are any protections for private citizens.

Swift has made no public comment on the issue, including whether she will take legal action. If she chooses to do so, she could be in a position to take on that sort of challenge, said Sam Gregory, executive director of Witness, a nonprofit organization that uses ethical technology to highlight human rights abuses.

"In absence of federal legislation, having a plaintiff like Swift who has the capability and willingness to go after this using all available means to make a point - even if the likelihood of success is low or long-term - is one next step," Gregory said.

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Trump Ordered To Pay $83 Million To Writer In Sex Assault Defamation Case

A jury in New York ordered former US president and 2024 candidate Donald Trump on Friday to pay $83.3 million to compensate the writer E. Jean Carroll whom he was found to have sexually assaulted and defamed.

The civil order, which prompted an audible gasp in the federal court, far exceeds the more than $10 million in damages for defamation that Carroll had sought.

Trump lashed out almost immediately calling the verdict "ridiculous" in a statement and promising to appeal.

The jury reached its decision after slightly less than three hours of deliberations.

Trump had been in court earlier, storming out at one point to subsequently return for closing arguments. He was not in court when the level of compensatory and punitive damages were read out by a court clerk.

Following the verdict, Trump's lawyer Alina Habba spoke only to thank court staff. A juror exchanged a smile with Carroll as the nine men and women left the courtroom after the judge encouraged them to protect their privacy.

"It's clear to me... you paid attention," Judge Lewis Kaplan told the jury following the verdict.

The order was comprised of $65 million punitive damages after the jury found Trump acted maliciously in his many public comments about Carroll, $7.3 million in compensatory damages, and $11 million for a reputational repair program.

Trump -- whom a jury found liable for sexual assault of Carroll in a separate federal civil case in New York -- used his Truth Social platform to fire off a spate of insulting messages attacking Carroll, the trial, and the judge, whom he called "an extremely abusive individual."

Trump, 77, briefly took the stand on Thursday to deny he instructed anyone to harm Carroll with his statements.

During Trump's testimony, Judge Lewis Kaplan limited him to three questions from his lawyers, to which he could only answer yes or no -- a precaution taken to prevent the Republican leader from returning to his custom of disparaging the court or Carroll in public.

"This is not America," Trump said as he left the courtroom following his short appearance.

He was not required to attend the trial or to testify. However, he has used the case, as well as others he faces, to generate heated media coverage and to fuel his claims of being victimized as he campaigns for a return to the White House in November's election.

Trump separately faces multiple criminal cases, including his alleged attempt to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden, and a civil business fraud case.

- Courtroom tension -

Habba sought to have the case thrown out Thursday on the grounds that threatening messages targeting Carroll, which have been aired in the case, began on social media before Trump's 2019 comments. Her request was denied.

Jurors were shown Trump's October 2022 deposition during which he confused a picture of Carroll for his former wife Marla Maples, which threatened to cast doubt on his claim Carroll was not his "type."

Last year, another federal jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996 and subsequently defaming her in 2022, when he called her a "complete con job."

Trump had been in court while he campaigned ahead of the New Hampshire primary, which he won handily over his only remaining challenger Nikki Haley, as he closes in on becoming the Republican candidate in the November election against Biden.

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France's Macron Visits Delhi's Nizamuddin Dargah

French President Emmanuel Macron visited the Dargah Nizamuddin Aulia in Delhi on Friday evening, officials said.

Emmanuel Macron was the chief guest at the 75th Republic Day celebrations at Delhi's Kartavya Path.

He reached the almost 700-year-old shrine -- the nerve centre of Sufi culture in India -- at 9.45 pm and remained there for more than half an hour, they said.

The dargah is the mausoleum of the famous Sufi Nizamuddin Auliya and his disciple Amir Khusrau.

Earlier, President Droupadi Murmu received her French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and hosted a banquet in his honour.

Welcoming President Emmanuel Macron, she said the leaders of the two countries being guests of honour in each other's successive National Day parade and celebrations, is a historic moment, and "a symbol of the depth of our friendship and the strength of our partnership".

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Viral Video Shows 3,000 Engineers Queuing Up For Job Interview In Pune

In a viral video, over 3,000 engineers were seen queuing outside a Pune-based company for a recent walk-in drive targeting junior developer positions, typically sought by freshers. 

The event garnered immense interest, with more than 2,900 resumes submitted. Hinjawadi, known for attracting IT talent, witnessed long queues, each hopeful engineer holding their resume. 

The video, widely shared on social media, has sparked discussions about the evolving IT job market and challenges faced by young professionals.

Despite Pune's vibrant IT sector, the overwhelming response for around 100 positions raises concerns about skills training, automation impact, and the need for job market diversification in India. 

The incident highlights the intense competition affecting both recent graduates and experienced professionals.

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Following the viral spread of the video across various platforms, a lively discussion erupted in the comment section, attracting numerous social media users eager to share their perspectives.

"An IT company collecting CVs in an analog manner is the height of irony," commented a user.

A user pointed out, "If you think this queue is bad, try applying for a job at a Canadian grocery store; their lines are longer than this."

Adding a touch of humor to the conversation, a third user quipped, "Where's that uncle who said to complete your engineering, and after that, everything will be fine?"

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"There Is Spin But...": Axar's Honest Verdict On Pitch During ENG 1st Test

The best part of Yashasvi Jaiswal's entertaining unbeaten 76 was the manner in which he completely unsettled England's troika of spinners, India's left-arm slow bowler Axar Patel reckoned after opening day's play in the first Test. Riding on Jaiswal's 70-ball blitz, India closed the opening day at 119 for 1 while replying to England's first innings total of 246 all out. "We enjoyed the way Yashasvi was batting and he took on the spinners from the very first over. It was very good to unsettle them early," said Axar in the post-day press conference. Jaiswal hammered debutant England left-arm spinner Tom Hartley for two sixes in the second over of India's first innings to impose himself on the match.

However, Axar himself played a not insignificant role in India's charge on the day, plucking the wickets of Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes.

The 30-year-old said he was just trying to complement senior partners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

"I have learned a lot from seniors Ash and Jaddu bhai. I was trying to control the game from my end as they were bowling in partnership. They were taking wickets, so, I was not thinking about taking wickets," he said.

"I know that if you are playing three spinners then one of them will get a lesser number of overs. They were also telling me what was happening on the wicket and what I should do. It is a privilege to bowl with them," said Axar.

The Gujarat bowler was particularly chuffed about the dismissal of Bairstow after castling him with a gem of a delivery that was bowled from wide of the crease, hitting the stumps with the angle.

"That delivery really came off well. We were talking if it turns from there then it would be great because the odd ball was turning. Bairstow took stance on the fourth wicket to avoid the lbw." "So, I thought of bowling at the stumps because he did cut a few shots close to the stumps. That was the plan and the one that turned from there was good and you would have seen my celebration," he added.

In their attempt to negate Indian spinners, the England batters employed reverse sweeps one too many times and Axar said the attacking mindset of rivals exponentiated his chances to take wickets.

"I was talking with the captain that they were playing sweeps and reverse sweeps and we were looking where the reverse sweeps were going. So, we placed the point (fielder) a bit behind.

"We had talked about this in the team meeting and we had a plan for this. It's good that they wanted to attack and it had a chance of getting them out," he noted.

Axar said the RGI Stadium pitch did not have any alarming turn and it was a good effort from the Indian bowler's part to bowl out England for 246.

He hoped that the batters would play longer on the second day and further cement the team's advantage.

"There is spin but the wicket is slow and we know that we did well to restrict them to 246. We can adjust to it as the ball is getting slow after pitching. Yeah, it is a bit challenging as well for the batters but if you bat well then you can make runs here," he concluded.

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Bhavatharini, Daughter Of Music Composer Ilaiyaraaja, Dies At 47

National award-winning singer and musician Bhavatharini, daughter of veteran composer Ilaiyaraaja, died on Thursday following illness, film industry sources said. Bhavatharini, who was in her late 40s, passed away in Sri Lanka where she was reportedly undergoing treatment.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, also Puducherry Lt Governor, and various others condoled her demise.

In a condolence message, Stalin recalled Bhavatharini had won a National Award for the film Bharathy, a biopic on national poet Subramanya Bharathy. The void left behind by her will remain, he said.

Bhavatharini earned a special place in the hearts of the audience with her mellifluous voice, Soundararajan said and extended her sympathies and condolences with the family of the deceased.

"Shocked and saddened by the passing away of Bhavatharini. Sending heartfelt condolences and prayers to Raja sir & Yuvan's family during this difficult time. Om Shanti," actor Simran wrote on her official 'X' handle 'Simranbaggaoffc.' Musicians Yuvan Shankar Raja and Karthik Raja are Bhavatharini's brothers.

Actor Prasanna condoled Bhavatharini's demise.

"It's absolutely sickening to know the passing away of #Bhavatharini .my heart goes out to #isaignani Ilayaraja sir and family. May she rest in peace," he wrote on 'X.' Bhavatharini has rendered a number of hits, including crooning for her father.

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Masala Tea At Shop, UPI Payment, Roadshow: When PM, Macron Met

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron took part Thursday in a roadshow in the Pink City, where the visitor was presented a replica of Ayodhya's Ram temple and offered masala chai from a teashop before the leaders sat down for bilateral talks.

Macron, who is the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations in Delhi on January 26, also visited the hilltop Amber Palace, Jantar Mantar observatory and Hawa Mahal in a carefully curated tour that ended at an iconic palace-turned-hotel.

In the evening, the two leaders were driven in an open-top vehicle through a short stretch in the heart of the city, beginning from Jantar Mantar, the 18th century astronomical observatory which is now a Unesco heritage site.

They stood in the vehicle, chatting and waving at people who lined the route.

For the PM, it was the first visit to the city after the swearing-in of Bhajanlal Sharma who took over as the Rajasthan chief minister after the BJP victory in the recent assembly polls.

PM Modi and Macron got down in front of the breezy Hawa Mahal. They admired the lit-up five-storey building with nearly 1,000 windows and 'jharokhas'.

The two leaders visited a handicrafts shop in the area. PM Modi, who led the consecration ceremony at Ayodhya's new Ram Mandir this week, bought a small replica of the temple for the guest, according to the shopkeeper.

He paid Rs 500 for the artifact -- digitally, through UPI.

And "Sahu chaiwala", who had set up a temporary stall for the occasion, accepted Rs 2 as token payment for the masala tea offered to the leaders. Again, the payment was digital.

The two leaders boarded the open-top vehicle again to continue the roadshow up to Sanganeri Gate. From there, they were to be driven to Rambagh Palace for dinner and the bilateral talks.

Earlier, in the afternoon, the French delegation was received by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra and Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma at the Jaipur airport.

A couple of hours later, PM Modi, who was on a visit to Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr, also reached Jaipur. He met up with Macron at Jantar Mantar, where the two shook hands, hugged and then took a brief tour of the observatory.

Before this meeting, Macron had already ticked off Amber Palace on his Jaipur itinerary. His delegation had headed straight from the airport to the fort, the seat of Kachhwa Rajputs before Jaipur was founded nearby.

A red carpet was laid out and caparisoned elephants lined up at the fort for the French president.

Macron interacted there with a group of children. The delegation also browsed through artifacts on display at the temporary stalls set up near the entrance.

S Jaishankar and Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari were at the fort.

Cutouts and hoardings were earlier put up at several locations in Jaipur around the sites PM Modi and Macron were set to visit.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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