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Democrats AI

Taylor Swift Endorses Kamala Harris In Response To Fake AI Trump Endorsement (theverge.com) 506

After tonight's ABC presidential debate, Taylor Swift announced her support for Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming presidential election after AI-generated images falsely depicted her endorsing Donald Trump. "Recently I was made aware that AI of 'me' falsely endorsing Donald Trump's presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation," Swift wrote in an Instagram post. "It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth." The Verge reports: Her post references an incident in late August, in which Trump shared a collection of images to Truth Social intended to show support for his presidential campaign. Some of the photos depict "Swifties for Trump," and another obviously AI-generated image shows Swift herself in an Uncle Sam-type image with text reading, "Taylor wants YOU to vote for Donald Trump." The former president captioned the post, "I accept!" [...]

This wasn't the first time AI images of Swift were circulated on social media. Earlier this year, nonconsensual sexualized images of her made using AI were shared on X. That incident prompted the White House to call for legislation to "deal" with the issue.

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Taylor Swift Endorses Kamala Harris In Response To Fake AI Trump Endorsement

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  • That, and cats (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Wednesday September 11, 2024 @12:02AM (#64778913) Homepage

    The other motivation for her endorsement was a remark about "childless cat ladies" made by JD Vance. [npr.org]

    That being said, I really wish we'd give less attention to celebrities' political endorsements. It's nice and all that the odds were in their favor when it came to their lot in life, but that shouldn't mean they get to cast extra votes by proxy. I'd prefer that people consider the issues (and if none of the issues directly affect you, think about how they affect your fellow Americans) and the direction we want our country to take, rather than who their favorite pop entertainer is voting for.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by sg_oneill ( 159032 )

      The main reason why I'm ok with this is the united states still has a legacy optional voting system and absolutely attrocious issues with voter-caging and voter-challenging types of corruption. If it takes celebrities to get young folks out to vote, then its better than the alternative.

      • The main reason why I'm ok with this is the united states still has a legacy optional voting system and absolutely attrocious issues with voter-caging and voter-challenging types of corruption.

        For lack of being able to edit my comment, I'm just going to write another response.

        The way I look at it is, if a meteorite fell on Trump tomorrow, I'm not going to praise it for fixing the flaws in our broken system. We shouldn't have to rely on celebrities or rocks from space to keep our country on the right track.

    • Re: That, and cats (Score:5, Insightful)

      by reanjr ( 588767 ) on Wednesday September 11, 2024 @12:45AM (#64778981) Homepage

      The whole point of a republic is that you don't have to stay informed. Instead you appoint a representative who shares your values but is smarter and more well-informed than you to make important decisions.

      If people think Taylor Swift represents their values, then what's wrong with voting with her?

      • Re: That, and cats (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Wednesday September 11, 2024 @01:08AM (#64779031) Homepage

        The whole point of a republic is that you don't have to stay informed.

        The electorate usually doesn't have to decide every single issue by vote (some initiatives do make it to the ballot, for example in Florida we'll be voting on an abortion-related amendment at the state level), but they absolutely should be informed about the platforms of the representatives up for election.

        If people think Taylor Swift represents their values, then what's wrong with voting with her?

        Elections aren't supposed to be decided by whichever political group has the most influential celebrities - we're running a country not a fashion show. Furthermore, her support for issues is simply a matter of how she personally feels about things; she's wealthy enough to be completely insulated from the outcome of any changes in our country's leadership. She isn't personally a LGBTQ+ person in fear of potentially losing their right to be married, or a woman that can't afford to leave her red state to have an abortion, she's just a rich person with an opinion that happens to be louder than yours or mine due to her wealth and social status.

    • Re: That, and cats (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Midnight_Falcon ( 2432802 ) on Wednesday September 11, 2024 @01:46AM (#64779077)
      I totally agree with your sentiment but sadly celebrities have an outsized role in politics. Donald Trump parlayed celebrity from The Apprentice and years in tabloids into his political career. While I don't think anyone will change their vote based on Taylor Swifts endorsement, I do think it has the potential to drive some voters to actually turnout to vote for Kamala. Turnout is crucial, even mobilizing some of Taylor's legendarily loyal and large fan base could make a serious difference.
    • Re:That, and cats (Score:4, Insightful)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Wednesday September 11, 2024 @02:43AM (#64779163)

      but that shouldn't mean they get to cast extra votes by proxy.

      Most people cast votes by proxy. There's a reason the majority of households vote in a similar way. The function of how people are brought up and the role models they keep leads them to have similar / matching behaviour.

      If my father were a gun trotting freedom fighting anti-government nutjob, there's very little doubt I would probably be aligned republican because the situation of my life and my upbringing would bend me in that direction. But instead my life is surrounded by people who lean center of left and by proxy their views shape my world view and thus my potential votes because...

      I'd prefer that people consider the issues

      ... the issues we see are the ones that are presented to us by the people who closely influence us, popstars, father figures, friends and family.

    • by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Wednesday September 11, 2024 @03:50AM (#64779247)
      Yeah, but... TAYLOR SWIFT!!! [screams & jumps up & down uncontrollably]
    • This. Just because an actor or singer or influencer us famous? That doesn't make their political opinions any more informed than Joe Sixpack down the road.
    • In general, I agree with you. Celebrities tend to have a platform that lets them speak about anything even if they have zero knowledge or ability in that area. The biggest skill that a celebrity needs is the ability to emotionally connect with people. And the arguments that celebrities tend to make in favor of particular political outcomes are emotional rather than logical. Unfortunately public policy is not a good area for emotional decision making. It's too bad that actual experts can't command nearly
    • Re:That, and cats (Score:4, Insightful)

      by coofercat ( 719737 ) on Wednesday September 11, 2024 @08:23AM (#64779705) Homepage Journal

      > That being said, I really wish we'd give less attention to celebrities' political endorsements

      A healthy position to take, I'd say. However, in this case she was used without her knowledge as a pawn in a political campaign, and so has been 'drawn in to the conflict'. I think she's responding in a responsible and level-headed fashion.

      Before anyone goes all "oh but you're just bashing my favourite team" on me, think it through:

      1) If she was a Trump supporter, she'd still have to react to the AI version of herself endorsing Trump. Only the truly stupid think any candidate is 100% perfect, and so she'd have had to say _something_ about it, if only to limit the scope of her "endorsement", or to say "I never said that, but I broadly agree". Either way, she's saying _something_, although possibly Trump could have come out on top.
      2) If she was a Harris supporter, then she has to react. Being misquoted in that way (about a divisive campaign) is about as bad as it gets, and she has a lot of 'followers' that she can speak to. Had Trump been a moderate, then she might not have said quite so much.

      So IMHO, the stable genius brought this on himself. Had he been more careful, and perhaps checked with her first, he could have just been quiet and she (most likely) wouldn't have said anything about either candidate. As it was, she _had_ to say _something_ - and it turns out that's bad for Trump.

      All that said, I'm sure not many of us really should give two hoots about the voting choices of pretty much anyone except maybe our family and close friends - and even then with a pinch of salt. You're supposed to vote your own conscience, not to try and gauge the mood of the population and vote with it.

    • Re:That, and cats (Score:4, Insightful)

      by SvnLyrBrto ( 62138 ) on Wednesday September 11, 2024 @09:14AM (#64779867)

      So much blatant hypocrisy here. Do you people even listen to yourselves?

      Newsflash: Your own dear leader got there by being a celebrity and leveraging that fame. But you don't bitch and tell him to shut the fuck up and know his place, do you? No, that invective is reserved for the other celebrity. How, precisely, is Taylor Swift's pop music celebrity lesser than than a reality show star's?

  • I'm pretty sure there was some brain-damaged QAnon conspiracy mindshart recently involving an imminent Taylor Swift endorsement of Harris or Biden (won't matter who exactly), so I should probably get the popcorn ready...

  • by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Wednesday September 11, 2024 @01:01AM (#64779011)

    It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation," Swift wrote

    Nobody gives a shit about the misery AI is about to unleash on ordinary citizens, but when highly visible people like this singer voice their opinions, it has more impact.

That does not compute.

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