{"id":54366,"date":"2024-05-20T05:16:25","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T05:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/20\/this-russian-woman-loves-china-too-bad-shes-a-deepfake\/"},"modified":"2024-05-20T05:16:25","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T05:16:25","slug":"this-russian-woman-loves-china-too-bad-shes-a-deepfake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/20\/this-russian-woman-loves-china-too-bad-shes-a-deepfake\/","title":{"rendered":"This \u2018Russian\u2019 Woman Loves China. Too Bad She\u2019s a Deepfake."},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/17\/video\/china-deepfake-cover\/china-deepfake-cover-facebookJumbo-v4.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"This \u2018Russian\u2019 Woman Loves China. Too Bad She\u2019s a Deepfake.\" title=\"This \u2018Russian\u2019 Woman Loves China. Too Bad She\u2019s a Deepfake.\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The woman declares, in Mandarin inflected with a slight accent, that Chinese men should marry \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.douyin.com\/user\/MS4wLjABAAAAWlE3mNx4trIWASfZC5AZfcxqSMuPdadITb2x6dbFXPA?modal_id=7366097269969521954\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">us Russian women<\/a>.\u201d In other videos on the Chinese short video platform Douyin, she describes how much she loves Chinese food, and hawks salt and soap from her country. \u201cRussian people don\u2019t trick Chinese people,\u201d she promises.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But her lip movements don\u2019t quite match the audio of the videos, which were posted recently to an account using the name \u201cLadina.\u201d That is because it is footage of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@shadezahrai?_d=secCgsIARCbDRgBIAMoARI%2BCjzK6q1HsllRyp43hngdhOAgDHMbvvG8XknxgFeebZs1rube5MWFk8nJh6UML%2Bh0vb24LMsYDucmv6u7nQkaAA%3D%3D&amp;language=en&amp;preview_pb=0&amp;share_item_id=6870696368076328194&amp;sha\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Shad\u00e9 Zahrai<\/a>, an Australian career strategist with more than 1.7 million TikTok followers, that has been modified using artificial intelligence. Someone dubbed Ms. Zahrai\u2019s video clips with a voice speaking Mandarin Chinese to make it seem that she was peddling Russian products.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Welcome to a flourishing genre on Chinese social media: A.I.-manipulated videos that use young, purportedly Russian, women to rally support for China-Russia ties, stoke patriotic fervor or make money \u2014 and sometimes all three at once.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It is unclear who is behind many of the videos, but most eventually direct viewers to a product link, suggesting that the primary aim is commercial. And the main target audience seems to be nationalist Chinese men.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The videos are often labeled with hash tags such as \u201cRussian wife\u201d and \u201cRussian beauty.\u201d The women featured describe how accomplished Chinese men are, or plead to be rescued by them from poverty or their own less idyllic country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Another set of videos feature a blond woman, describing her gratitude for having landed in China.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI really envy my Chinese friends. You\u2019re born with the world\u2019s most precious identity and most profound and charming language,\u201d she says in a video posted to another platform, Xiaohongshu, which is similar to Instagram.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A different video shows the woman thanking the Chinese people for supporting Russia through its economic difficulty by buying Russian chocolates from her. \u201cIn the past year, the entire world is boycotting Russia, imposing all kinds of restrictions and difficulties on us. China is like a savior,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">These videos looked much more natural, with the woman\u2019s lips synced to the fluent Mandarin. But they are fake, too. They were retooled from YouTube videos posted by <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@olgaloiek\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Olga Loiek<\/a>, a college student whose real videos are about self-improvement and her gap year in Germany.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Loiek doesn\u2019t speak Chinese. And she would never praise Russia like that, she said in an interview. She is from Ukraine, and some of her relatives are still there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The makers of these videos are trying to capitalize on a market born of China\u2019s current moment in geopolitics, technology and public sentiment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Relations between Russia and China have deepened significantly in recent years, with the countries\u2019 leaders, Vladimir V. Putin and Xi Jinping, declaring a \u201cno limits\u201d partnership in the face of mounting hostility from the West. Mr. Putin <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/16\/world\/asia\/putin-xi-china-russia.html\" title=\"\">visited Beijing<\/a> last week, where Mr. Xi <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/17\/world\/asia\/putin-xi-china-russia.html\" title=\"\">welcomed him<\/a> with great fanfare. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The use of foreign faces to laud China also seeks to tap into a sense of national pride, or nationalism, among the Chinese audience. Nationalist content has become one of the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/26\/world\/asia\/china-nationalists-online-attacks.html\" title=\"\">surest drivers of internet traffic<\/a> in China, in a censorship environment where more and more topics are off limits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That nationalism \u2014 like nationalism around the world \u2014 has often included a strain of sexism, said <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/chenchenzhang.net\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Chenchen Zhang<\/a>, a professor of international relations at Durham University in England.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis representation of young white women in sexually objectified ways is a typical trope of gendered nationalism, or nationalistic sexism,\u201d Professor Zhang wrote in an email. \u201cViewers can get both their nationalistic and masculine pride reaffirmed in consuming this content.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In several of the videos featuring Ms. Zahrai\u2019s manipulated likeness, the faked character <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.douyin.com\/user\/MS4wLjABAAAAWlE3mNx4trIWASfZC5AZfcxqSMuPdadITb2x6dbFXPA?modal_id=7368254385169747235\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">calls<\/a> her viewers \u201cbig brothers.\u201d The persona also notes that Russia is not selling those products in Japan or South Korea, two countries with which China has fraught relations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Chinese government has often encouraged online nationalism, but there is no indication that it has anything to do with the deepfake videos (though some local governments <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.douyin.com\/video\/727895868623035114\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">have partnered<\/a> with real Russian women to promote similar messages about China\u2019s appeal). There is also a small economy of real Russian influencers, many of them young women, on Chinese social media.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many of the video makers may simply be taking advantage of China\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/04\/28\/business\/china-livestreaming-ecommerce.html\" title=\"\">embrace of shopping via livestreaming and short videos<\/a>. As A.I. technology has become more advanced, some Chinese companies have already switched <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/2023\/09\/19\/1079832\/chinese-ecommerce-deepfakes-livestream-influencers-ai\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">from real to virtual salespeople<\/a> to save money.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Artificially generated videos are likely to become more and more common as a sales tactic, since A.I. technology has advanced so quickly and become so much more accessible to the general public, said <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scu.edu\/business\/isa\/faculty\/lu\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Haibing Lu<\/a>, a professor at Santa Clara University who studies A.I. governance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Zahrai\u2019s management company said in an email that the A.I. modifications were \u201cpoor quality,\u201d and that they \u201cwould likely appear to be fake\u201d even to casual viewers. Some of the account\u2019s videos had only a few dozen views, though the one discussing marrying Russian women had 22,000. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It didn\u2019t seem to matter. An automated counter that pops up in one of the account\u2019s videos suggests that the brand of salt being pitched has already been bought 360,000 times across the platform.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When The New York Times reached out to the Douyin account with the videos of the manipulated Ms. Zahrai, the account holder confirmed in an audio message that he had made the videos. \u201cYou set up three things: audio, video and mouth. You can build any video you want,\u201d he said, before unfriending a reporter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The levels of sophistication vary. Some of the fake women appear entirely computer generated, move stiffly and look like glorified <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ea.com\/games\/the-sims\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Sims<\/a>. Some, like those featuring Ms. Loiek\u2019s likeness, are very good.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEven though I knew it wasn\u2019t me, the realism was frightening,\u201d said Ms. Loiek, who recently found out that more than 30 different social media accounts in China had co-opted her image. \u201cWhen I decided to create my YouTube channel, I was aware of the dangers of deepfakes, but I believed it was primarily a concern for famous political and entertainment figures. Now I realize that anyone with video footage of themselves online can be affected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Loiek reported the accounts on Xiaohongshu and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3FQSFnZpsqw\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">made a YouTube video<\/a> about her experience. Eventually, most of the profiles using her likeness were shut down.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In recent weeks, the social media platforms have tightened scrutiny, removing A.I. videos or adding labels to some of them. China was the first country to enact regulations around generative A.I., and on paper, some of its policies are stricter than those in the West.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But countries worldwide are struggling with enforcing their rules. Detecting wrongdoing may be especially difficult in China, because of its closed internet environment, where many foreign social media outlets are banned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Foreign influencers are unlikely to know their image has been used on Chinese social media and file a copyright complaint. And the Chinese platforms may not be drawing on overseas content, either, when checking for A.I. manipulation, said a 35-year-old man who ran two accounts featuring A.I.-generated Russian women. The man, who gave only his surname, Chen, said he earned about $1,000 a month from the accounts before he shut them down in March, fearing greater regulation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But more are still proliferating. And Russia may be the hot topic now, but the practice will probably soon spread to whatever the next trend is, said Professor Lu at Santa Clara.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe people behind this would manipulate any possible topic to attract people\u2019s attention,\u201d he said. \u201cShow \u2018how to go to top schools\u2019 to parents; \u2018how to become beautiful,\u2019 to young ladies. I believe going forward, everyone will use A.I. technology to customize topics to make videos appealing to a certain audience.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/20\/world\/asia\/china-russia-deepfake.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The woman declares, in Mandarin inflected with a slight accent, that Chinese men should marry \u201cus Russian women.\u201d In other videos on the Chinese short video platform Douyin, she describes how much she loves Chinese food, and hawks salt and soap from her country. \u201cRussian people don\u2019t trick Chinese people,\u201d she promises. But her lip [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/17\/video\/china-deepfake-cover\/china-deepfake-cover-facebookJumbo-v4.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1559,168,13126,31870,1461,420,2486],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54366"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54366"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54368,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54366\/revisions\/54368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}