Deepfake pornographic images of Taylor Swift that rapidly spread through X, formerly Twitter, have raised concerns among local social media experts who caution the same could happen to Hawai‘i residents.
Explicit, non-consensual photos of the global superstar garnered 47 million views in less than 24 hours last week. The social networking site X banned people from searching for Taylor Swift, prompted by angry fans.
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa communication program professor Wayne Buente said the issue with artificial intelligence-produced images is disturbing, adding that someone was able to bypass the restrictions of the free Microsoft software in creating the image.
Deepfakes are edited pictures or videos created by computer software that virtually cut the face of an existing image and then paste it onto the body of another. The images, commonly targeted at celebrities, are usually produced maliciously or to spread false information.
“Those were very disturbing to celebrities at that time, but this one that is different, that troubles me is the fact that it is creating whole-cloth images of these women and celebrities,” Buente said.
In Hawai‘i, the law makes it a Class C felony for someone to intentionally manipulate deepfake images.
But Buente says more should be done to keep up with the evolving AI software.
“I feel like our law and policies are behind where technology is advancing,” he said, “Even if these are totally fake images, it really does harm the women in very impactful ways.”
