A Ukrainian YouTuber has raised concerns after discovering an artificial intelligence (AI) version of her face online ‘promoting Russian goods’. Olga Loiek, a Cognitive Science & Computation student at the University of Pennsylvania, also runs a YouTube channel where she creates content on topics like ‘self-discovery’ and ‘burnout’. However, her online experience took a dark turn when she found AI versions of her face being used in various videos across multiple social media platforms – from Chinese to Russian. The 21-year-old, who has family still in Ukraine, began her YouTube channel in 2023. Just a month into her content creation journey, she started receiving messages from people who claimed they had seen her on various Chinese social media platforms, even appearing to speak Mandarin in some videos.
When Loiek investigated further, she told the BBC she discovered that some of the accounts had “things like Russian flags in the bio.” She continues: “I could see my face and hear my voice. But it was all very creepy because I saw myself saying things that I never said. […] I saw like 90 percent of the videos were talking about China and Russia, China-Russia friendship, that we have to be strong allies, as well as advertisements for food.”
‘Natasha’ showed the AI version saying: “Russia is the best country. It’s sad that other countries are turning away from Russia”
One account featuring Loiek’s face under the name ‘Natasha’ showed the AI version saying: “Russia is the best country. It’s sad that other countries are turning away from Russia, and Russian women want to come to China.” Loiek expressed her frustration in a video on her page: “It seems like the main narrative behind these accounts is to strengthen the relationship between these two countries. As a Ukrainian, this has obviously been infuriating for me – after all, my family has to hide during air raid sirens and hundreds of thousands of my fellow Ukrainians are getting displaced, injured or killed because of the Russian attacks.”
So, what could be done to assist Loiek? Thankfully, after her fiancé raised awareness of these accounts, the company that allegedly developed the tool used to create the AI versions of Loiek responded, stating it had blocked her image from being used. Loiek’s face had been generated into a staggering 4,900 videos or more.
A spokesperson later informed the BBC that the ‘unauthorized content’ resulted from its system being hacked, and it had since updated its verification methods and system to enhance safety. Despite these actions, people continue to react with horror on social media. One Instagram user said: “What in the episode of black mirror is this?”
“This is terrifying. AI was supposed to help us make day-to-day life easier, allowing us to spend more time on our hobbies and our families, to become happier, and now we have deepfakes promoting propaganda and other crimes, and AI-generated art becoming a trend. Humanity has failed once again,” a user added.