X suspends research on Taylor Swift

In response to the wave of explicit AI-generated images of Taylor Swift, X has temporarily suspended searches for the musician.

* of Biden.

Since Saturday, entering “Taylor Swift” into the X platform search bar results in an error message being displayed. Which is intentional, X admitted on Saturday: “ This is a temporary measure, taken with great caution, as we prioritize safety in this area said Joe Benarroch, X’s head of business operations, in a statement (via Variety).

However, searching for “Taylor Swift” in addition to another word (like “Taylor Swift AI”) still returns actual tweets in the results.

On Friday, the actors’ union criticized the images ” upsetting, harmful and deeply disturbing » which spread on X at the beginning of the week. “ The development and dissemination of false images, especially those of an obscene nature, without someone’s consent must be made illegal., declared SAG-AFTRA, while calling for support for Representative Joe Morelle’s bill aimed at combating this practice. “ As a society, we have the power to control these technologies, but we must act now before it is too late. We support Taylor and women around the world who are victims of this type of theft of their privacy and right to autonomy. »

At a press conference on Friday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the images “ alarming “. She called on social networks to more rigorously enforce content moderation policies and added that Congress should take steps to pass protective legislation.

“ We are alarmed by reports of the images you presented being circulated, fake images to be more precisedeclared Ms. Jean-Pierre. Although social networks make their own decisions when it comes to content management, we believe they have an important role to play in enforcing their own rules to prevent the spread of misinformation. Of course, Congress should take legislative action. This is how we deal with some of these issues. »