Spamouflage Dragon Network Used AI-Generated Profile Pictures in U.S.-Targeted Disinformation
Graphika reported that the pro-Chinese spam network Spamouflage Dragon began posting English-language videos attacking U.S. policy and the Trump administration in June 2020. The operation used accounts with AI-generated profile pictures and automated voice-overs, targeting U.S. foreign policy, coronavirus handling, racial inequalities and actions against TikTok. The accounts received no engagement from authentic users and made little effort to conceal their Chinese origin.
- Company involved
- Spamouflage Dragon
2 source articles · read the reporting →
Playground AI makes MIT student's headshot appear Caucasian
Rona Wang, an MIT graduate, used Playground AI to generate a professional LinkedIn photo. The AI altered her appearance, giving her lighter skin and blue eyes, making her look Caucasian. The incident sparked discussion about racial bias in AI. Playground AI's founder acknowledged the issue and expressed a desire to fix it.
- Company involved
- Playground AI
- AI system involved
- Playground AI
1 source article · read the reporting →
AI editing tool gives Rona Wang unintended photo
Rona Wang attempted to use an AI editing tool to generate a LinkedIn profile photo. Instead, the tool produced an unintended image. Wang shared the result on Twitter, expressing dissatisfaction.
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Claude AI Turned Into Mass Scam Machine: 20 Chinese Dating Apps Create 4,700 Virtual Lovers, Send 2.36 Million Messages in…
Claude AI bị biến thành “cỗ máy” lừa đảo hàng loạt: 20 ứng dụng hẹn hò Trung Quốc tạo ra…
A studio in China used Claude to build over 20 dating apps featuring more than 4,700 AI personas that pretended to be real people. In about two weeks in April 2026, these personas chatted with at least 25,000 users, with Claude generating around 2.36 million messages. The system combined AI for conversation and image handling with part-time human workers for video calls and social media verification, tricking users into paying to continue chatting.
- Company involved
- unnamed studio based in China
- AI system involved
- Claude
1 source article · read the reporting →
Disney faces backlash over AI-generated Thanksgiving painting
Disney updated its Thanksgiving painting, and fans on social media speculated that the artwork was created using artificial intelligence. The company has not publicly responded to the allegations.
- Company involved
- Disney
8 source articles · read the reporting →
X's Grok AI Image Generator Lacks Guardrails, Users Create Offensive Images of Trademarked Characters
On August 14, 2024, X rolled out image generation capabilities for its Grok AI chatbot to Premium users. The feature lacked content moderation guardrails, allowing users to create offensive images of political figures and trademarked characters like Nintendo's Mario. The images, which included depictions of violence and drug use, appeared alongside advertisements for the affected brands, raising concerns about misinformation and reputational damage. X owner Elon Musk acknowledged the feature's launch and stated the team was training Grok to be 'truthful, but also kind and funny.'
- Company involved
- X
- AI system involved
- Grok-2
3 source articles · read the reporting →
Alibaba among firms fooled by AI-hallucinated software package
Security researcher Bar Lanyado discovered that generative AI models repeatedly hallucinate non-existent software package names. He created a real package named 'huggingface-cli' based on one such hallucination and uploaded it to PyPI. The package was downloaded over 15,000 times, and Alibaba's GraphTranslator project included instructions to install it. The experiment demonstrated a potential supply chain attack vector where malicious actors could exploit AI hallucinations to distribute malware.
- Company involved
- Alibaba
- AI system involved
- GraphTranslator
4 source articles · read the reporting →
Figma pulls AI design tool after it copies Apple's weather app
Figma removed its Make Designs AI feature after it was found to generate app mockups nearly identical to Apple's iOS weather app. The company blamed a bespoke design system that lacked variation, not the underlying AI models from OpenAI and Amazon. Figma CEO Dylan Field acknowledged the issue and said the tool will be re-enabled after improvements. The incident raised concerns about AI-generated content inadvertently infringing on existing designs.
- Company involved
- Figma
- AI system involved
- Make Designs
2 source articles · read the reporting →
Jonas Bendiksen used AI and 3D software to create Book of Veles
Photographer Jonas Bendiksen created the photobook 'Book of Veles' using 3D software and an OpenAI text generator to depict the North Macedonian town of Veles. The book was published in April 2021 and later screened at the Visa pour l'Image festival without anyone questioning its authenticity. Bendiksen then revealed in an interview with Magnum Photos that the images and text were synthetic. The project raised concerns about the ease of creating convincing misinformation.
- Company involved
- Jonas Bendiksen
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Deepfake of Mark Zuckerberg tests Facebook's fake video policies
Two artists and an advertising company created a deepfake video of Mark Zuckerberg using CannyAI's video dialogue replacement technology and uploaded it to Instagram. The video shows Zuckerberg saying things he never said about controlling data. Facebook stated it would treat the content as misinformation and de-prioritize it. The incident tests Facebook's policies on manipulated media.
- Company involved
- Facebook
- AI system involved
- CannyAI VDR
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Spamouflage Operation Used AI-Generated Deepfake Videos for Pro-Chinese Influence
In late 2022, Graphika observed the pro-Chinese influence operation Spamouflage promoting videos featuring AI-generated fictitious people. The footage was created using a commercial AI video platform from a UK company. The videos were low-quality and received fewer than 300 views, but Graphika warns that such tools could enable more convincing deception at scale.
- Company involved
- Spamouflage
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Facebook bans Flanders tourist ad over Rubens painting nudity
The Flanders Tourist Board had an advertisement for a Rubens painting banned by Facebook's automated ad review system, which flagged the bare-chested Jesus as nudity. The board wrote an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg protesting the 'cultural censorship' and posted a satirical video mocking the policy. Facebook had not responded at the time of reporting.
- Company involved
- Facebook
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Twitter expands Community Notes to images after Pentagon deepfake incident
An AI-generated image depicting an explosion at the Pentagon went viral on Twitter, briefly disrupting the stock market. The realistic deepfake misled many users and news outlets before being debunked. In response, Twitter announced an expansion of its Community Notes feature to allow users to add context to potentially misleading images. The company aims to combat the spread of AI-generated misinformation on its platform.
- Company involved
- Twitter Inc.
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Glasgow AI mural design sparks criticism from local artists
Balmoral Estates used AI to generate a design mock-up for a planned mural on Elmbank Street in Glasgow. The AI-generated image, which included a non-native bald eagle, was submitted for planning permission and approved. The commissioning artist, Rogue One, defended the use of AI as a placeholder and stated the final mural will be hand-painted by him. Critics argue human artists should have been involved from the start.
- Company involved
- Balmoral Estates
4 source articles · read the reporting →
MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab's AI Portrait Ars produces whitewashed portraits of people of colour
AI Portrait Ars, developed by researchers at the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, is reported to have generated Renaissance-style portraits that lightened the skin and altered the facial features of people of colour. The tool, trained on tens of thousands of paintings from the Western artistic tradition, was criticised for reproducing that bias in its data set. The creators acknowledged the bias but did not respond to a request for comment.
- Company involved
- MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab
- AI system involved
- AI Portrait Ars
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Workaround compiled Instagram selfies into face-mask facial recognition training set
Workaround, an AI startup, published the COVID19 Mask Image Dataset in April 2020, containing more than 1,200 photographs of people wearing face masks scraped from Instagram without their knowledge or consent. The dataset was intended to help train facial recognition algorithms so they could identify people whose faces are partly covered during the COVID-19 pandemic. The firm's chief executive acknowledged that the people pictured were not asked for permission and were unaware they were included. Facebook said it was investigating and does not allow third parties to use photos in this way without consent.
- Company involved
- Workaround
- AI system involved
- COVID19 Mask Image Dataset
10 source articles · read the reporting →
ogkalu's Illustration-Diffusion model trained on Hollie Mengert's art without consent
A fine-tuned Stable Diffusion model named Illustration-Diffusion was trained on the work of illustrator Hollie Mengert without her consent. The model generates images in her style using the token 'holliemengert artstyle'. Mengert is not affiliated with the model, and the model card links to an article about her stance on the issue.
- Company involved
- ogkalu
- AI system involved
- Illustration-Diffusion
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Chinese propaganda network used AI-generated faces on Facebook
Facebook removed two networks of fake accounts spreading propaganda, one originating from China and one from the Philippines. The Chinese network used AI-generated faces created through Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to create fake profiles and evade detection. The campaign targeted the US election and Southeast Asia, pushing pro-China content. Facebook took down the accounts and published a report with Graphika.
- Company involved
- Chinese propaganda network (Fujian province)
- AI system involved
- GANs (Generative Adversarial Networks)
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Mauritshuis Museum criticized for displaying AI-generated Vermeer artwork
The Mauritshuis Museum displayed an AI-generated version of Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' created using Midjourney by artist Julian van Dieken. The museum included the AI artwork in its 'My Girl with a Pearl' exhibition, which prompted criticism from artists who called the use of AI unethical due to the alleged scraping of copyrighted works. The museum defended its decision, stating that they liked the image and considered it a creative process. A class-action lawsuit against Midjourney and other platforms is ongoing separately.
- Company involved
- Mauritshuis Museum
- AI system involved
- Midjourney
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Qoves facial assessment tool ranks journalist's attractiveness and suggests procedures
Tate Ryan-Mosley, a journalist at MIT Technology Review, used Qoves Studio's AI facial assessment tool, which automatically scored her face and listed perceived flaws such as smile lines and under-eye bags. The tool recommended skin-care products and paid surgical consultation reports. She also tried Megvii's Face++ beauty-scoring system, which gave her two percentage attractiveness scores. The article raises concerns that such algorithms are inaccurate, biased and not transparently used by social media platforms.
- Company involved
- Qoves Studio
- AI system involved
- Facial Assessment Tool
9 source articles · read the reporting →
Adobe uses Creative Cloud user data to train AI
Adobe's content analysis feature may scan Creative Cloud and Document Cloud files to train machine learning models, including object recognition in Lightroom and Liquid Mode in Acrobat. The company says it may analyze images, audio, video, text and other documents stored on its servers. Adobe offers an opt-out in account privacy settings, but the article notes the company did not ask first.
- Company involved
- Adobe
- AI system involved
- Content analysis
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Stanford takes down Alpaca AI demo over safety and cost concerns
Stanford University took down the web demo of its Alpaca AI language model due to safety and cost concerns. The model, based on Meta's LLaMA, was fine-tuned to follow instructions but could generate misinformation and toxic text. Researchers decided to remove the demo after it became publicly accessible, citing inadequate content filters and rising hosting costs.
- Company involved
- Stanford University
- AI system involved
- Alpaca
10 source articles · read the reporting →
OpenAI's CLIP vision system fooled by handwritten notes
OpenAI researchers discovered that their CLIP computer vision system can be deceived by handwritten labels placed on objects. The system's multimodal neurons respond to text as well as images, causing it to misidentify objects. The attack, called a typographic attack, is a research finding and not a deployed system. No actual harm occurred.
- Company involved
- OpenAI
- AI system involved
- CLIP
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Chinese Communist Party uses AI to create anti-American memes
Researchers at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found that a campaign linked to the Chinese Communist Party is using AI image generators to create and spread memes designed to stoke anti-American sentiment by capitalising on President Biden's support of Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza. The memes are being distributed on social media platforms like X, Facebook, and YouTube. Platforms have taken down some accounts, but the campaign continues.
- Company involved
- Chinese Communist Party
4 source articles · read the reporting →
