Explicit pictures of Taylor Swift surfaced on the internet on Jan. 15 through X, formerly known as Twitter. These images were viewed 45 million times before the account that posted said images was suspended the following day including other accounts that reposted the images. (Indian Express). However, this attempt to eradicate these images failed because they resurfaced on other media platforms. (Billboard).
The White House spoke out about the incident shortly after it happened and called for legislation to take action to protect the victims of online harassment and misrepresentation. (Billboard). State lawmakers all around the U.S. are placing safeguards on AI to restrain deepfake videos and photos. These bills would ban deepfake pornography and explicit imagery.
“I thought it was weird and fake because of the way she’s presented in the media; I just knew it wasn’t something she would approve of or something that she’d like to see portrayed on different social media platforms,” stated Megan Simone, senior at Taft.
Swift’s fans are aware that the posts don’t suit her mojo and the pornographic depictions of her are truly disturbing considering that a major portion of her audience consists of people under the age of 18 years old. Her career is highly valuable so an incident like this isn’t likely to change the fact of the matter.
“I feel like the images definitely did have a part on her reputation for others who didn’t know that the images were fake and might’ve thought she would actually do something like that. But for the most part, I feel like people know that it’s not something Taylor Swift would do,” stated Deanna Raczkiewicz, senior at Taft.
Some of the shared images depicted Swift posing inappropriately at a Kansas City Chiefs game fully nude and covered in body paint that represents the teams’ colors. This is because of Swift’s affiliation with the team as she is dating the team’s tight-end player, Travis Kelce.
Swift may result as a winner in the courthouse but her dignity will forever be scarred as she will be fighting against the depiction of a sex object which could take years or decades to erase. As disturbing as it is, countless high-profile women have to endure such treatment.
Swift represents every girl and woman for what’s at stake in the future of artificial intelligence. As technology continues to progress, sexually explicit artificial and photoshopped images will become one of the substantial threats current and future generations will be facing which consist of people’s most personal and intimate qualities being used against them.
“I don’t think it impacted her career, I believe all her fans are just as upset as she is because if you know Taylor Swift fans, you know that they are her ride-or-die’s,” stated Mohammad Aboon, senior at Taft.
Swift’s nightmare is only the tip of the iceberg for what’s to come in the future of the existential artificial intelligence crisis but hopefully, the government can stop this from becoming a norm in today’s society, or else it will further continue to lead unjust judgments and detriment to peoples mental health.
