Ethical Hacking News
AI-generated influencers are flooding social media platforms like Instagram, stealing videos from real models and adult content creators, and monetizing their bodies with links to dating sites and AI apps. The phenomenon, known as "AI pimping," raises serious questions about the future of social media and the impact on human creators.
The world of social media is being disrupted by AI-generated influencers who use stolen content and AI faces to promote products and services. These AI-generated influencers are often created using off-the-shelf tools and apps available on the Apple App and Google Play Stores. The phenomenon has been described as "AI pimping" due to its exploitative nature, with men profiting from women's bodies. Many human creators are struggling to compete with AI-generated influencers, leading to a decline in their views and careers. Instagram has struggled to stop the spread of AI-generated content on its platform, despite promises to remove it. The rise of AI-generated influencers raises questions about the future of social media and the impact on human creators.
The world of social media has long been dominated by human influencers, who use their charm and charisma to promote products and services to millions of followers. However, a new phenomenon is emerging that threatens to disrupt this status quo: AI-generated influencers.
According to a recent investigation by 404 Media, Instagram is flooded with hundreds of AI-generated influencers who are stealing videos from real models and adult content creators, giving them AI-generated faces, and monetizing their bodies with links to dating sites, Patreon, OnlyFans competitors, and various AI apps. This phenomenon has been described as "AI pimping," a term that highlights the exploitative nature of these new influencers.
The investigation found that it is now trivially easy to create these accounts and monetize them using an assortment of off-the-shelf AI tools and apps. Some of these apps are hosted on the Apple App and Google Play Stores, making them easily accessible to anyone with a smartphone. The Digital Divas guide, which costs $50, provides a comprehensive roadmap for creating and operating one of these AI-generated influencers.
The investigation also found that many of these AI-generated influencers are being operated by men, who are profiting from the exploitation of women's bodies. Elaina St James, an adult content creator who promotes her work on Instagram, spoke to 404 Media about the impact of these new influencers on her own career. "This is probably one of the reasons my views are going down," she said. "It's because I'm competing with something that's unnatural."
Alexios Mantzarlis, the director of the security, trust, and safety initiative at Cornell Tech and formerly principal of trust and safety intelligence at Google, compiled a list of around 900 accounts that 404 Media reviewed in its investigation. He believes that these AI-generated influencers are just the tip of the iceberg, and that social media may become a space where AI-generated content eclipses that of humans.
"The digital landscape is rapidly changing, and it's hard to keep up with new technologies and trends," Mantzarlis said. "But this is a warning sign that we need to pay attention to. As AI-generated influencers continue to proliferate, we need to think about the implications for human creators and the integrity of online content."
The investigation also found that Instagram has been unable or unwilling to stop the flood of AI-generated content on its platform. When asked about the issue, a representative from Fanvue told 404 Media that the company would remove Emily Pellegrini's image from future Miss AI contests "as part of an overhaul for the next award." However, when reached for comment, Instagram deleted two of the four accounts that were provided as examples that used face swapping to steal from other creators.
The Digital Divas guide suggests using a series of off-the-shelf tools that are widely known among people who make AI art. Several of the AI-generated accounts reviewed by 404 Media appear to use an app called HelloFace, which until recently was available on the Apple App and Google Play stores. The guide also recommends swapping AI faces onto images created with AI-generation apps using a host of face-swap apps.
In addition to these guides, there are now several sites that serve as a one-stop shop for creating and monetizing AI-generated influencers. Glambase, SynthLife, and Genfluence are just a few examples of these sites, which promote the use of various AI tools and apps to create and operate these new influencers.
The investigation also found that some creators are finding it difficult to track down instances where videos have been taken from their content. "Finding stolen videos often requires an influencer or one of their fans to be able to recognize their body with a different, AI-generated face on it," St James said.
In response to the growing problem of AI-generated influencers, Fanvue has stated that it does not allow content that has been stolen or created via deepfaking. The company uses a tool called Hive Moderation and has a "human compliance team who conducts manual systematic checks" for deepfaked content.
The investigation raises serious questions about the future of social media and the impact of AI-generated influencers on human creators. As AI technology continues to advance, it is likely that we will see more and more instances of these new influencers popping up on platforms like Instagram.
In conclusion, the emergence of AI-generated influencers on Instagram highlights a darker side of social media culture. While these new influencers may seem harmless at first glance, they are in reality perpetuating a system of exploitation and deception that threatens to undermine the livelihoods of human creators.
Related Information:
https://www.wired.com/story/ai-pimping-industry-deepfakes-instagram/
Published: Wed Nov 20 05:39:33 2024 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
