MLA victim of AI-generated fake porn video welcomes plan to outlaw such acts
An MLA who was a victim of online sexual abuse has said a public consultation on criminalising deepfake images 'must lead to serious consequences for anyone involved in their creation and sharing'.
The SDLP's Cara Hunter (29) was subject to serious abuse after an AI-generated pornographic video depicting her was shared thousands of times on WhatsApp ahead of the 2022 Stormont election.
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Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Seemingly normal house listing sparks warning from experts over trend that could lead to buyers 'wasting their time' - but can you spot what the problem is?
An estate agent appears to have used AI to enhance photographs of a rental property listing in the UK with mixed results - with image enhancement software installing laminate flooring in the fireplace and removing the handle from the front door. The four-bed house on White Road in the Cowley area of Oxford appears to have been the subject of some over-enthusiastic photo editing in a bid to make the property look more appealing to would-be tenants. But artificial intelligence software seemingly used to touch-up the pictures have given the images some bizarre details - including wooden laminate flooring in the fireplace, no handle on the front door and eerily clean surfaces. MailOnline ran the photographs through a number of artificial intelligence detection tools, which suggested that the photographs appeared to bear the hallmarks of AI image manipulation. Some of the pictures appeared to have unrealistically blue skies, one analysis tool suggested, as if the typical cloudy skies of Britain had been removed to make the property look more enticing. But while the front door had apparently been stripped of its door handle and the car in the driveway had been stripped of its badges and number plate, no amount of apparent manipulation could remove the weeds from the driveway. Experts have suggested that such manipulation will only irk house-hunters and prospective tenants, who could arrive to find the house looks nowhere near as clean or colourful as the images suggest. But estate agents Connells - recently implicated in a preferential selling scandal that saw it allegedly sell homes to its mortgage customers rather than higher bidders - maintains that the listing is 'fair and accurate'. The 'enhanced' photographs appear to feature interesting design choices such as a wooden laminate fireplace - and a bucket of stationery that does not match its reflection The house listing first appeared on internet message board Reddit, where users suggested that the images of the house were real - but had been fed through AI image manipulation software to make them look 'nicer'. The photographs appear to be based on real pictures taken at the property - but have undergone modification to make them more appealing. Close examination of the images show they bear the hallmarks of AI - with erratic smudging and odd proportions of small details. The external view of the property featured an extraordinarily blue sky and extremely saturated colours. The front door's window sits out of skew with the frame - and the door itself has no handle. Inside, the living room features a fireplace patched up with laminate floorboards identical to that used on the floor itself. Oddly, a pot packed with stationery on a table appeared to be almost empty when reflected in the feature mirror on the wall. One bedroom appeared to have a table lamp that melted into the wall behind it. In the bathrooms, products such as shower gel and soap had smudged, unreadable labels - a telltale sign of AI use. Some of the images in the listing did not appear to have been manipulated. But the Oxford listing illustrates a growing trend for AI use in more industries, including among estate agents. There are multiple tools targeted at estate agents online that promise to use AI to spruce up property listings - sold as tools to help them save time and move homes on quicker. One offers to remove dirt, brighten up a room and even replace the sky in exterior photographs for £1.20 per picture. 'Don't let a gloomy day ruin your photos,' it notes. But experts have warned that using AI to 'enhance' property listings could be misleading - and may ultimately frustrate house-hunters when a home is nowhere near as rosy as the pictures make it look. Sam Richardson, deputy editor of Which? Money, said: 'Finding the right home to buy or rent can be tricky enough without having to worry about AI or edited images. 'With home buyers and renters likely needing to view several properties, this could waste their time and money travelling to viewings of properties that look nothing like they do online. 'But this also makes it even more important to view a property in person before parting with any money - and if buying a home, strongly consider getting a survey.' A Connells spokesperson insisted the listing was 'fair', without commenting on the apparent use of AI. They said: 'All of our listings are fair and accurate. They allow people to see what is on the market and help them to decide whether or not they might wish to view a property.' The representative declined to answer MailOnline's questions on whether it would be using AI on future listings. The use of AI to enhance photographs has sparked concern elsewhere in the world amid concerns that it could be used to cover up flaws in properties. In Australia, the New South Wales state government has announced legislation requiring estate agents to declare if AI has been used to add some sheen to listings. Legislators said they had seen examples of estate agents using AI to fit a double bed into a room that was only big enough for a single, and of using AI to disguise damage. It comes days after the estate agent was implied to have engaged in conditional selling, against the UK industry code of practice. A BBC Panorama investigation found staff were allegedly prioritising customers who used their in-house services for conveyancing and mortgaging when it came to house sales. Sometimes, the programme claimed, this would even involve potentially higher bids being overridden in favour of a lower bid from a Connells customer. In a statement, the estate agent rejected 'any accusation of conditional selling' and that 'no harm has been caused' to the customer. It added: 'It is not the case that customers who use our mortgage services are more likely to successfully purchase a property than those who do not.'
Reuters
5 hours ago
- Reuters
Nvidia AI chips: repair demand booms in China for banned products
BEIJING/SHANGHAI, July 25 (Reuters) - Demand in China has begun surging for a business that, in theory, shouldn't exist: the repair of advanced Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab artificial intelligence chipsets that the U.S. has banned the export of to its trade and tech rival. Around a dozen boutique companies now offer repair services, according to two such firms in the tech hub of Shenzhen which say they predominantly fix Nvidia's H100 graphics processing units (GPUs) that have somehow made their way to the country, as well as A100 GPUs and a range of other chips. Even before it was launched, the H100 was banned from sale in China in September 2022 by U.S. authorities keen to rein in Chinese technological development, particularly advances that its military could use. Its predecessor, the A100, was also banned at the same time after being on the market for over two years. "There is really significant repair demand," said a co-owner of a firm that has been fixing Nvidia's gaming GPUs for 15 years and began working on AI chips in late 2024. Business has been so good that the owners created a new company to handle those orders, which now repairs up to 500 Nvidia AI chips per month. Its facilities, as shown in social media advertising, include a room which can accommodate 256 servers, simulating customers' data centre environments to conduct testing and validate repairs. The rapid growth of the repair industry from late last year supports the view that there has been a significant amount of smuggling of Nvidia chipsets into China. Tenders have shown that the government and the military have made purchases of the U.S. firm's banned AI chips. Concern about large-scale smuggling of high-end Nvidia products into China has prompted both Republican and Democratic lawmakers to introduce bills that would require the tracking of chipsets so that their location can be verified after they are sold. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration also backed the idea this week. The thriving repair industry also highlights how Nvidia's advanced GPUs remain in high demand despite new, albeit less powerful, products from Chinese tech giant Huawei ( Though the buying, selling and repair of Nvidia GPUs is not illegal in China, sources for this article were reluctant to draw scrutiny from U.S. or Chinese authorities and declined to be identified. Nvidia cannot legally provide repair or replacement items for restricted products in China. In contrast, sources said if an Nvidia GPU in another nation has a defect and is under warranty, which is normally three years, the company usually replaces it. An Nvidia spokesperson said only the company and authorised partners "are able to provide the service and support that customers need. Using restricted products without approved hardware, software, and technical support is a nonstarter, both technically and economically." Nvidia has only just been allowed to recommence sales of its H20 AI chipset, which has been specifically developed for China to comply with U.S. restrictions. Switching over to H20 chipsets is, however, not necessarily a simple or good option for Chinese entities. Price is an issue as one H20 server with eight GPUs inside will likely cost more than 1 million yuan ($139,400), industry sources say. H20 chipsets, which have increased memory bandwidth, have been specifically designed for AI inference work, but firms involved in the training of large language models would likely prefer H100 chipsets which are better suited to that task. Industry sources said some of the H100 and A100 GPUs in China have been crunching data around the clock for years now, leading to an increase in failure rates. Depending on how frequently a GPU is used and how often it is maintained, an Nvidia GPU generally lasts two to five years before needing to be repaired, they said. According to the first source, his company charges between 10,000 yuan and 20,000 yuan ($1,400 to $2,800) to fix a GPU depending on the complexity of the problem. The second Shenzhen-based repair service provider - which shifted from GPU rentals to repairs this year - says it can repair up to 200 Nvidia AI chips each month, charging about 10% of the GPUs' original selling price per repair. Services generally include software testing, fan repair, printed circuit board and GPU memory fault diagnostics and repair, as well as the replacement of broken parts. In the meantime, smuggling of high-end Nvidia chips continues. Traders of chips in China say customer demand is pivoting to top-of-the-line B200 chips which Nvidia began shipping to other countries in larger quantities this year. A server with eight B200 GPUs costs more than 3 million yuan in China, they said. ($1 = 7.1724 Chinese yuan)
Daily Record
6 hours ago
- Daily Record
Torched car found on Edinburgh housing estate near where 'firearm discharged'
Footage from Hailesland Grove shows what little remains of the vehicle which suffered significant damage while parked outside dozens of homes in the residential area. A vehicle has been left burnt out on an Edinburgh housing estate where a gun was reportedly shot. Armed cops swarmed Hailesland Gardens when a bullet was reportedly blasted at around 3.40pm, prompting police to lock down the residential street. Footage from neighbouring, Hailesland Grove shows what little remains of the vehicle which suffered significant damage from being torched while parked outside dozens of homes. A 23-year-old was taken to hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries following the incident. Images from the scene shows a police car behind the shell of the burnt out vehicle, although it has yet to be confirmed if the incidents are linked. One resident on the street, speaking anonymously, told Edinburgh Live: "It's absolutely terrifying to live here... we don't know if the car fire is related to the shooting but hopefully they find this person. "There are lots of children in the area and they need to be protected." Firearms officers were also pictured patrolling a footpath near Hailesland Grove with the area taped off. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. A spokesperson for the force said: "Around 3.40pm on Thursday, 24 July, 2025, we were called to a report of a firearm being discharged in the Hailesland Gardens area of Edinburgh. "A 23-year-old man has attended hospital for treatment to serious but not life-threatening injuries. "Officers, including specialist firearms officers, are in attendance and extensive enquiries are ongoing."
