NEW YORK -- Searching for Taylor Swift on X, formerly known as Twitter, showed an error message Saturday after pornographic, AI-generated images of the singer were circulated across social media last week.
X鈥檚 search function only displays results for Swift under its 鈥淢edia鈥� and 鈥淟ist鈥� tabs. However, Swift is still searchable using several boolean operators. Inputting 鈥淭aylor Swift鈥� with quotation marks, as well as 鈥淭aylor AND Swift鈥� yield normal search results under all of X鈥檚 search function tabs.
The search function error message does not appear on either Instagram or Reddit.
The fake images of Swift 鈥� which show the singer in sexually suggestive and explicit positions 鈥� were predominantly circulating on X, and were viewed tens of millions of times before being removed from social platforms.
Like most major social media platforms, X鈥檚 policies of 鈥渟ynthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm.鈥�
鈥淭his is a temporary action and done with an abundance of caution as we prioritize safety on this issue,鈥� the company told CNN in a statement Saturday.
Digitally manipulated pornographic images of celebrities are nothing new on the internet, and have been circulating online since the advent of software like Photoshop. But the rise in mainstream artificial intelligence software has heightened concerns due to its ability to create convincingly real and damaging images.
The incident comes as the U.S. heads into a presidential election year, prompting fears misleading AI-generated images and videos could be used in disinformation efforts.
And it鈥檚 not just public figures with massive online presences who fall victim to this type of harassment.
In November, a 14-year-old New Jersey high school student called on school and government officials to take action after she said photos of her and more than 30 female classmates were manipulated and possibly shared publicly.
At the time, the school provided CNN with a statement from Superintendent Dr. Raymond González, who said, 鈥淎ll school districts are grappling with the challenges and impact of artificial intelligence and other technology available to students at any time and anywhere.鈥�
Nine U.S. states currently have against the creation or sharing this kind of nonconsensual deepfake photography, which are synthetic images created to mimic one鈥檚 likeness.
