Digital Event Horizon
AI-generated influencers are flooding social media platforms such as Instagram, creating a new frontier in social media exploitation. As the proliferation of these virtual personalities continues to grow, questions about ownership, control, and responsibility remain unanswered.
Artificially generated influencers have emerged on social media platforms like Instagram, using stolen images or videos. These virtual personalities aim to monetize their bodies and personas, competing with real-life adult content creators and models. Over 1,000 AI-generated Instagram accounts have been created, featuring swapped AI-generated faces onto stolen images or videos. The emergence of AI-generated influencers has devastated the business of adult content creator Elaina St James, who lost a significant portion of her views and engagement. Instagram's policies on AI-generated content are inadequate, leading to difficulties in reporting accounts for impersonation due to concerns about backfiring and potential bans. The proliferation of AI-generated influencers raises questions about ownership and control of digital content created by virtual personalities.
In recent months, a disturbing trend has emerged on social media platforms such as Instagram, where individuals and companies are creating and promoting artificial intelligence (AI)-generated influencers. These virtual personalities, often created using stolen images of real-life adult content creators or models, have been flooding the platform with the aim of monetizing their bodies and personas. The proliferation of AI-generated influencers has sparked a heated debate about the ethics of social media, the ownership of digital content, and the potential for exploitation in this new frontier.
According to an investigation conducted by 404 Media, in collaboration with WIRED, over 1,000 AI-generated Instagram accounts have been created, each featuring an AI-generated face that has been swapped onto a stolen image or video. These virtual influencers are often promoted using various tools and guides, including instruction manuals such as the "Digital Divas" guide, which offers technical tips and social engineering strategies for creating and monetizing these AI-generated personas.
One of the most striking aspects of this phenomenon is the ease with which these accounts can be created and monetized. Using off-the-shelf AI tools and apps, individuals can generate faces that have been swapped onto stolen images or videos, and then promote them on social media platforms such as Instagram. This has led to a proliferation of AI-generated influencers who are competing directly with real-life adult content creators and models for attention, views, and revenue.
Elaina St James, an adult content creator who promotes her work on Instagram, stated that the emergence of AI-generated influencers has had a devastating impact on her business. "My reach went down tremendously," she said, citing a drop in views from 1 million to less than 500,000 over the past year. "It's because I'm competing with something that's unnatural." St James also expressed frustration at the lack of action taken by social media platforms such as Instagram to address this issue, stating that she has been unable to report accounts for impersonation due to concerns about backfiring and potential bans on her own account.
The Digital Divas guide, which offers instruction manuals and strategies for creating and monetizing AI-generated influencers, has also sparked controversy. The guide's advice to focus on creating a persona that is not just "pornographic" but also "lonely" and "desirable" has been criticized as exploitative and manipulative. "The thing that most AI girls mess up is that they think they are in the porn business," reads one section of the guide. "Take off the clothes and they will drown in money. This is 100% wrong." The guide's emphasis on creating a persona that is desirable and marketable has been seen as a cynical attempt to exploit vulnerable individuals.
Instagram has stated that it will take action against AI-generated content that violates its Community Guidelines, but critics argue that the platform's current policies are inadequate to address this issue. "Instagram said it would take action on accounts only if they're reported from the rights owner or someone authorized to report on their behalf," noted St James. However, many creators have reported difficulties in getting accounts for impersonation reported due to concerns about backfiring and potential bans.
The proliferation of AI-generated influencers has also raised questions about ownership and control in this new frontier. Who owns the digital content created by these virtual personalities? And who is responsible for their actions on social media platforms? These are questions that remain unanswered, but one thing is clear: the rise of AI-generated influencers represents a significant shift in the way we interact with and engage with online content.
As social media platforms continue to evolve and adapt to new challenges and opportunities, it will be essential to address these issues head-on. This includes implementing more robust policies and procedures for addressing impersonation and exploitation on these platforms, as well as providing greater support and resources for creators who are affected by these issues.
Related Information:
https://www.wired.com/story/ai-pimping-industry-deepfakes-instagram/
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-humans-technology-business-factory.html
Published: Wed Nov 20 06:42:03 2024 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
