Roundup: Can Taylor Swift stop AI-generated abuse?

You’ve probably heard by now that AI-generated explicit photos of Taylor Swift were circling online this week, but especially on Elon Musk’s free speech platform. Twitter/X only started taking real action in the past few days, far too late to make any meaningful difference. It’s kicked off a necessary conversation about why it’s not okay to non-consensually create explicit images of people and what can be done to stop it. (I also wouldn’t mind seeing Taylor Swift drive Twitter/X into the grave at this point.)

In this week’s roundup, we dig deeper into that story. Plus there are the usual recommended reads, labor updates, and other news you might have missed! Weekly roundups are for paying subscribers, so if you haven’t already, upgrade your subscription to get the full issue and support the work that goes into making Disconnect!

Over the past week I spoke to The Messenger about why Silicon Valley has recently been trying to hype up semiconductor research that’s far from making any dent in the sector. On Tech Won’t Save Us, I interviewed Eric Silver about Spotify’s attempt to take over podcasts and why it failed.

🚨 I'm speaking in Christchurch on February 4 and in Wellington on February 8. I’m hoping to get an event in Auckland organized as well, and I’m open to going to Australia if any groups want to bring me over for a talk or discussion. Feel free to get in touch on the latter two points.

Have a great week!

— Paris