When the first wave of mainstream AI panic descended on us in January 2021‚ right around when OpenAI announced its image generator‚ DALL-E‚ my first thought was: This is going to revolutionize fandom first‚ then satire. Integrating AI in these spaces wouldn't only democratize content creation to some extent (not as much as you'd think‚ though using AI still has a barrier to entry!) but also potentially blur the lines between official and fan-made or amateur content. If you could dream it or type it‚ you could see it. Not everyone was going to like it — and indeed‚ not everyone accepts artificial intelligence in their fan spaces‚ whether it's because it's a betrayal of the authenticity of relationships or they feel like it's otherwise exploitative — but there was no containing it. This suspicion was almost immediately vindicated. Websites like fanfiction.net and AO3 added "AI" tags for their stories; services like character.ai‚ which allow you to do an AI roleplay where you're communicating with your favorite fictional character or star‚ cropped up‚ and there was an explosion of AI-assisted fan art accounts on X‚ like the popular Neon Evangelion artist‚ @lucifel99. The satire space‚ too‚ saw immediate adoption of these new AI tools. Deepfaked videos of Ron DeSantis were the most seamless part of his campaign. It also reignited a familiar debate in fan spaces about the ethics of a tricky genre of fan work called real-person fiction. Where does reality stop and the imaginary take over? Jim McIsaac/Getty Images Real-person fiction‚ or RPF‚ is exactly what it sounds like: fan fiction and fan art based on real-world celebrities. Sometimes‚ RPF is harmless. Examples of this might include a portrait not based on an existing photo but that brings in elements from your imagination‚ a narration of a story the celebrity already told in which certain elements are fictional‚ or a comic strip depicting a made-up scenario. A fan of Sydney Sweeney might write about what he or she imagines Sweeney was like as a Universal Studios tour guide. For something to be categorized "real person fiction‚" it needs to be "transformative": that is‚ some part of it needs to be original fiction. Other times‚ though‚ RPF is more ethically fraught‚ both for the fandom and the entertainer depicted in writing or art. Baseball player Andy Pettitte sent a cease-and-desist letter to the fan site FanDomination.net for publishing a 20-page homoerotic story about him. The story was self-consciously fictional — it wasn't purporting to be true — but it was still tantamount to defamation for Pettitte. He's the only celebrity to date who's taken legal action over fanfic‚ and he might not have had a case had FanDomination not respected his wishes. But he's not the only person‚ both on the celebrity and fandom sides‚ to be alarmed by it. One commenter put it like this in 1992: When you create a universe‚ with characters and situations‚ you get to play god. The universe‚ the characters‚ the situations are all objects that a writer manipulates to her heart's content. When you write about real people‚ regardless of the situation‚ you have turned them into objects. Maybe this is neither good nor bad‚ but I feel that much of what past and current women's (and minorities) struggles are about‚ is a passion to NOT be objectified; to be viewed as individuals‚ as human beings‚ not things. More simply put: real-person fiction treats real people as fiction. Some people in fandom spaces have strong ethical concerns about that. It's objectifying; it potentially invades their privacy; and it may even have the power to sway the way people view them. But it's complicated‚ right? First of all‚ famous people are … well‚ famous. They're not ordinary people being speculated about by nosy‚ obsessive strangers. Selling your image to the public is part of the job description. Many of the legal protections are confined to people commercially benefiting from it. Then there's the fact that historical fiction has always been a thing‚ and so has art that draws on real-life subjects. Is there a meaningful difference between great works of historical fiction from Homer or Shakespeare and RPF? What about the "Tijuana bibles" circulated in the 1930s and '40s‚ featuring fictional erotic drawings and stories about Hollywood bombshells? The answers to this aren't as clear-cut as they might immediately seem. Fake celebrity sex tapes will alter what we understand to be real Johnny Nunez/Getty AI and the internet add another dimension to all this. Social media-bolstered context collapse means even works that are wholly fiction may be interpreted as real. When the New Yorker short story "Cat Person" went viral‚ many people didn't even register it as fiction — they thought it was a confessional essay and started dogpiling the main character. It was bizarre to see it play out in real time. What role do human errors like that play? Imagine if‚ instead of written erotica‚ the story about Pettitte was an AI-generated image that was openly fake – maybe it had a watermark or a warning – but interpreted as real for the same reasons the short story "Cat Person" was interpreted as factual. Would Pettite have a case then? Turns out he might — Taylor Swift did. Last week‚ an X user created and distributed deepfake pornography of Taylor Swift. In response‚ a group of U.S. senators introduced legislation aimed at making it illegal to distribute non-consensual‚ sexually explicit images created using artificial intelligence. The trick about this case is that the user who distributed these images didn't claim they were real. This wasn't "revenge porn." It was somewhere in the gray area between satire and RPF. But AI‚ with its ability to create hyper-realistic depictions of its subjects‚ pushes the boundaries of free speech. If this new bill goes through … who else and what else will it impact? In a world where celebrity sex tapes are common‚ will we even notice or care when they're created by computers?

A recent episode of "Hannity" on Fox News took an unexpected turn when‚ during the live broadcast‚ members of the vigilante group Guardian Angels apprehended a man they insisted was a suspected "shoplifter" and an illegal immigrant from Venezuela.On Tuesday evening‚ Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa‚ who unsuccessfully ran against Eric Adams for New York City mayor as a Republican in 2021‚ was chatting with eponymous host Sean Hannity about the problems illegal immigrants have caused in New York City on Adams' watch."This mayor doesn’t seem to get it‚" Sliwa claimed. "He takes care of the illegal aliens and forsakes his own people‚ especially the African-American poor and impoverished who elected him the mayor of the city of New York over me."As the two men decried Adams' decision to furnish illegal immigrants in the city with prepaid debit cards‚ a scuffle involving some Guardian Angels began just outside the view of the camera in Times Square. As the camera panned toward the commotion‚ Guardian Angels‚ recognizable in their red berets and jackets‚ surrounded the individual and seemed to place him under a citizens' arrest.Though the incident was ostensibly occurring in real time‚ Sliwa quickly offered key details about the man. "Our guys have just taken down one of the migrant guys right here on the corner of 42nd and 7th while all this is taking place‚" Sliwa told Hannity."He had been shoplifting‚" Sliwa claimed‚ but thanks to the intervention of the Guardian Angels‚ he was then "sucking concrete" following a criminal takedown so monumental that "his mother back in Venezuela felt the vibrations."Sliwa then returned to speaking about illegal immigrants more broadly. "We gotta take 42nd Street back‚ Sean. These illegals think they own this street; they think they rule the night‚" he said."This is our country. If they can't abide by the rules‚ then we’re gonna kick ’em back from where they came. You shoplift‚ you commit crime‚ you assault people‚ you don’t belong in our country‚ and we’re gonna make sure you pay a price for that."We gotta fight for what we know is right‚ and you saw a little bit of this‚" Sliwa continued. "They got a little bit of taste of what the Guardian Angels are gonna do to liberate Times Square from them." Sliwa also told Hannity that the shoplifting suspect was headed to jail but that he would soon be released back onto the streets‚ likely referring to the reluctance of NYC judges to assess cash bail.Police eventually became involved in the incident caught on camera‚ but statements from the NYPD give a much different version of events than the one shared by Sliwa. An NYPD spokesperson told the New York Post that officers arrived at the scene in connection with a "disorderly man" who allegedly "repeatedly attempted to interfere with and disrupt a live television interview."The suspect was "detained by bystanders" and "issued a summons for disorderly conduct‚" the spokesperson said. The spokesperson did not state whether the man was an illegal immigrant or whether he was wanted in connection with a shoplifting incident.The Post also noted that Sliwa‚ 69‚ has a history of exaggerating claims of criminal activity in NYC to convince New Yorkers of the need for vigilante groups like the Guardian Angels. More than 30 years ago‚ Sliwa admitted to fabricating six crimes that were staged to enhance his group's public profile.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A new peer-reviewed study in a Springer Nature Group journal has painted a damning picture of the global COVID-19 vaccination campaign along with the novel mRNA products at its core — vaccines millions of Americans were compelled to take if they wanted to keep their jobs‚ eat in public‚ stay in school‚ remain in uniform‚ or visit their loved ones. According to the study‚ published on Jan. 24 in the PubMed-listed open access journal Cureus‚ standards were dropped‚ corners were cut‚ and red flags were missed in the testing‚ authorization‚ and ultimate deployment of the COVID-19 vaccines. The result: a product with an "unacceptable harm-to-reward ratio." Impurities Extra to hinting at possible ulterior motives driving the decision to rush out the vaccines in a fraction of the time conventionally figured appropriate‚ epidemiologist M. Nathaniel Mead and his co-authors — including Texas cardiologist Peter McCullough — wrote that the vaccines "evaluated in the trials were not the same products eventually distributed worldwide." Whereas the mRNA products from "clinical batches" in the registration trials were ostensibly free of process-related impurities‚ the doses made with "a method much more suitable for mass production known as Process 2 ... showed significantly reduced mRNA integrity‚" claimed the researchers. "All of the COVID-19 mRNA products released to the public were produced via Process 2 and have been shown to have varying degrees of DNA contamination‚" said the study. "The failure of regulatory authorities to heretofore disclose process-related impurities (e.g.‚ SV40) has further increased concerns regarding safety and quality control oversight of mRNA vaccine manufacturing processes." Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo noted the detection of "Simian Virus 40 (SV40) promoter/enhancer DNA" in the vaccines in a Dec. 6 letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Peter Marks‚ director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research‚ said in reply‚ "No SV40 proteins are encoded for or are present in the vaccines‚" and emphasized that the shots were safe and effective. The European Medicines Agency‚ which regulates vaccines in the EU‚ indicated that "non-functional" fragments of SV40's DNA sequence are used in the manufacture of the COVID-19 vaccine‚ reported the Associated Press. Pfizer indicated the SV40 sequence is commonly used in developing vaccines. Regardless of whether elements of SV40 were specifically of any consequence‚ Mead and his coauthors underscored that the mRNA vaccines were not as advertised. Harms and unintended consequences "Re-analysis of the Pfizer trial data identified statistically significant increases in serious adverse events (SAEs) in the vaccine group‚" wrote Mead and the other researchers. "Numerous SAEs were identified following the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA)‚ including death‚ cancer‚ cardiac events‚ and various autoimmune‚ hematological‚ reproductive‚ and neurological disorders." According to the study's authors‚ many of these serious SAEs "have often been wrongly ascribed to COVID-19 rather than to the COVID-19 mRNA vaccinations." "Misattributions of SAEs to COVID-19 often may be due to the amplification of adverse effects when mRNA injections are followed by SARS-CoV-2 subvariant infection‚" said the study. "Injuries from the mRNA products overlap with both [post-acute COVID-19 syndrome] and severe acute COVID-19 illness‚ often obscuring the vaccines' etiologic contributions." The study suggested not only that the vaccines are likely responsible for a host of devastating side effects that have been conveniently blamed on the virus but also that boosters have actually had a paradoxical impact. "Multiple booster injections appear to cause immune dysfunction‚ thereby paradoxically contributing to heightened susceptibility to COVID-19 infections with successive doses‚" wrote the researchers. The researchers suggested further that the vaccines are perpetuating the emergence of new variants. "Mass mRNA inoculations result in the natural selection of highly infectious immune-evading SARS coronavirus variants that successfully bypass vaccine-induced immunity‚ leading to a dramatic rise in the prevalence of these variants‚" said the study. On the basis of their review‚ the researchers concluded that for most adults under the age of 50‚ "the perceived benefits of the mRNA boosters are profoundly outweighed by their potential disabling and life-threatening harms. Potential harms to older adults appear to be excessive as well." In addition to calling for COVID-19 vaccines to be removed from the childhood immunization schedule along with the suspension of boosters‚ the researchers urged "governments to endorse and enforce a global moratorium on these modified mRNA products until all relevant questions pertaining to causality‚ residual DNA‚ and aberrant protein production are answered." Regarding possible conflicts of interests‚ the authors indicated that no financial support was afforded them by any organization for the study. Stephanie Seneff‚ one of the authors‚ nevertheless declared a grant from Quanta Computer Inc.‚ a Taiwan-based computer manufacturer. Entrepreneur Steve Kirsch‚ another author‚ noted that he is the founder of the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation but "receives no income from this entity." McCullough‚ who supervised the study‚ highlighted his employment and stock options from the Wellness Company. McCullough was involved in another troubling study that was recently published. His peer-reviewed study published last month in the pharmacotherapy journal Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety stressed that "COVID-19 vaccination is strongly associated with a serious adverse safety signal of myocarditis‚ particularly in children and young adults resulting in hospitalization and death." "COVID-19 vaccines induce an uncontrolled expression of potentially lethal SARS-CoV-2 spike protein within human cells‚ have a close temporal relationship of events‚ and are internally and externally consistent with emerging sources of clinical and peer-reviewed data supporting the conclusion that COVID-19 vaccines are deterministic for myocarditis‚ including fatal cases‚" claimed the study. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is calling on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) to step down as leader of Senate Republicans. Asked at a press conference on Tuesday if he believes it is time for McConnell to go‚ Cruz confirmed‚ "I think it is." "I think a Republican leader should actually lead this conference and should advance the priorities of Republicans‚" Cruz explained. — (@) The problem‚ according to Cruz‚ is that Senate Republican leadership used Sen. James Lankford (Okla.) — the Republican who co-authored the bill with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) — as a sacrificial lamb to write a bill that is "designed to lose." The secret negotiations‚ Cruz said‚ resulted in a policy disaster for Republicans. Even worse‚ the bill awards Democrats a victory‚ not only because it doesn't end the border crisis but also because it gives them political ammunition to use against Republicans ahead of the upcoming election. "Who won in this battle? His name is Charles Schumer‚" Cruz later explained on Fox News. "The purpose of this bill was to let every Democrat running for the Senate and running for the House stand up and say‚ self-righteously‚ 'I wanted to secure the border‚ I really wanted to‚ but those mean Republicans wouldn't let me‚'" he continued. "I've got to say‚ Senate Republican leadership — I told them this months ago‚ other conservatives told them months ago‚ and they proceeded down this this path that ended up — it was a box canyon with a kamikaze pilot crashing into a wall. It was a disaster. And it was entirely avoidable." Cruz first advocated for McConnell to step down after the disappointing 2022 midterm elections in which Republicans squandered the opportunity to win control of the House and Senate. But McConnell refused. For his part‚ McConnell responded to Cruz on Tuesday‚ saying‚ "I think we can all agree that Sen. Cruz is not a fan." Later‚ McConnell dismissed his critics and said the only way to solve the border crisis is to compromise with Democrats. "I've had a small group of persistent critics the whole time I've been in this job. They had their shot‚" McConnell told Politico. "The reason we've been talking about the border is because they wanted to‚ the persistent critics. ... You can't pass a bill without dealing with a Democratic president and a Democratic Senate." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that he is sending additional state officers to Oakland to curb the “alarming and unacceptable” crime wave.A press release from Newsom’s office stated that 120 California Highway Patrol officers will be sent to Oakland and the East Bay “to crack down on crime and improve public safety.” The officers‚ including specialized units‚ will work with local law enforcement agencies to combat criminal activity‚ including violent crime‚ auto theft‚ cargo theft‚ and retail theft. Additionally‚ the temporary deployment will allow for “high-visibility traffic enforcement.”“As part of this operation‚ the CHP will deploy license plate reader technology that will help identify and recover stolen vehicles‚ as well as specialized CHP units — including K9s and air support. This enhanced law enforcement presence will represent a nearly 900% increase in CHP personnel in Oakland and within Alameda County‚” the press release stated.“As crime rates across California decrease — including right across the Bay in San Francisco — Oakland is seeing the opposite trend. What’s happening in this beautiful city and surrounding area is alarming and unacceptable. I’m sending the California Highway Patrol to assist local efforts to restore a sense of safety that the hardworking people of Oakland and the East Bay demand and deserve‚” Newsom stated.The governor’s office noted that preliminary reports indicated Oakland experienced a 21% increase in violent crime in 2023. Additionally‚ robberies increased by 38% and vehicle thefts by 45%.The area’s surging crime has forced many businesses to close shop and head elsewhere. Earlier this month‚ Denny’s permanently shut down its only Oakland location after 54 years. Last month‚ In-N-Out notified residents that it plans to shutter its Oakland establishment in March. Black Bear Diner‚ Subway‚ and Starbucks have also closed down locations in the area.Oakland-based Clorox Company recently ramped up its safety measures by providing employees the option to be escorted to and from the building and their vehicle by a security officer. Blue Shield of California has implemented similar measures to protect its workers.Kaiser Permanente has advised its staff to stay in the building during breaks. Workers were instructed to bring their own lunch or have food delivered.Oakland Democratic Mayor Sheng Thao stated‚ “The City of Oakland is hard at work turning the tide — increasing law enforcement investigations‚ increasing police recruitment‚ and investing in community and violence intervention efforts. As we work to improve public safety‚ I’m grateful for Governor Newsom for providing these critical law enforcement resources that are a game-changer in helping us hold more criminals accountable and make Oakland safer.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

With Haley trailing Trump by double digits in S.C. polling‚ her campaign manager says she’ll keep fighting as long as she has momentum and resources.

Netanyahu made the comments shortly after meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken‚ who arrived in the region Tuesday night.

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