Explicit Taylor Swift deepfakes spark calls for new AI laws

Bongani Bingwa speaks to foreign correspondent Adam Gilchrist about the world’s trending news stories. 

Listen below (skip to 1:39). 

American politicians are calling for new laws to criminalise the creation of deepfakes after hoax, sexually explicit photos of Taylor Swift surfaced online.

The images overtook social media sites X and Telegram.

“One such image was viewed 47 million times.”

- Adam Gilchrist, foreign correspondent

In a statement, X said it was ‘actively removing’ the images and taking ‘appropriate actions’.

The name ‘Taylor Swift’ is also no longer searchable on X, terms such as ‘Taylor Swift AI’ and ‘Taylor AI’ are also included. 

Deepfakes use artificial intelligence (AI) to make videos or images of someone by manipulating their face or body.