Who Created Those AI-Generated Explicit Photos of Taylor Swift? Scary Viewer Numbers Emerge After 24 Hours

Photo Credit: Chaz McGregor

AI-generated sexually explicit images of Taylor Swift went viral on the internet yesterday—doing scary numbers before being ‘removed.’ Who made these images?The proliferation of AI-generated porn reached an apex yesterday after images featuring Taylor Swift’s face appeared on X/Twitter. Tweets of the photos generated more than 45 million views and 24,000 reposts according to The Verge. The image was shared by an X/Twitter Verified user, so its reach was expanded before the account was suspended for violating platform policy. The post was live for more than 17 hours before it was scrubbed—but once something is out there—it’s out there.

Who created the images and how did they made it onto social media? A report from 404 Media suggests the images can be traced to a single Telegram group where users AI-generate sexually explicit images featuring celebrity and well-known faces. The group uses Microsoft Designer, which is intended to create social media graphics. Despite the X/Twitter platform position on synthetic and manipulated media and non-consensual nudity, the picture remained up for nearly a day.

It highlights why X/Twitter is currently under investigation by the EU for claims it is used to “disseminate illegal content and disinformation.” Following the incident, the X/Twitter Safety account re-iterated platform policy without specifically mentioning the Taylor Swift porn images incident.“Posting Non-Consensual Nudity (NCN) images is strictly prohibited on X and we have a zero-tolerance policy towards such content. Our teams are actively removing all identified images and taking appropriate actions against the accounts responsible for posting them.”

“We’re closely monitoring the situation to ensure that any further violations are immediately addressed, and the content is removed. We’re committed to maintaining a safe and respectful environment for all users.”

Fans of Taylor Swift worked to flood X/Twitter yesterday with images using the phrase ‘Protect Taylor Swift’ and sharing images of cute things to drown out the ‘AI Taylor Swift’ phrase that was trending.