A woman who had been streaming online broadcasts in support of Ukraine’s freedom in the United States expressed her anger at Chinese producers who created broadcasts that praised Russia using her face. It is pointed out that China, which is strict about using artificial intelligence to duplicate others’ faces, is turning a blind eye to broadcasts praising Russia, with whom it currently maintains a relationship.
According to a BBC broadcast on the 15th, Olga Royek, a Ukrainian student studying at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, recently started receiving messages from acquaintances who saw her on Chinese video platforms such as Xiaohongshu. She was shocked to find that in the videos in which she claimed to be Russian, she introduced Russian products in Chinese, a language she doesn’t speak, or criticized other countries that were turning against Russia. Olga confirmed over 30 videos introducing herself as Sophia, Natasha, April, and Stacy. Royek, whose family is still in Ukraine suffering from the Russian invasion, was extremely enraged.
When the facts came to light, HeyGen, the company that claimed to have developed the program used to create Royek’s clone, revealed that more than 4900 videos were produced using her stolen image. HeyGen told the BBC, “Unauthorized content was created as our system was hacked. We have updated our security and verification protocols to prevent further abuse of the platform.”
China is known for being one of the countries with the strictest regulations on AI and its applications. According to statistics released by the Ministry of Public Security last year, authorities arrested and prosecuted 515 users for AI face swap activities. However, experts suggest that the widespread production and dissemination of Royek’s videos might be due to the special relationship between China and Russia. Currently, the Chinese state media are accepting and reporting Russia’s justifications for invading Ukraine, and social media is censoring posts related to the war. Emmie Hine, a legal and technology researcher at the University of Bologna, said, “It’s unclear whether the numerous accounts were operated systematically, but it helps when they are in line with the government’s propaganda. Even if they are not explicitly connected to the Chinese Communist Party, posts are less likely to be deleted if they make claims that align with the party’s message.”
Royek has recently been working to correct videos featuring her fake image and said, “I am 100% sure I won’t be the last victim of generative AI. I wanted to share my story to help people understand that not everything you see online is real.”