Mostly Human with Laurie Segall

Searching for Mr. Deepfakes: Seeds of Change [Part 4]

A note to listeners: This is Part 4 of a 4-part series. If you have not yet listened to Searching for Mr. Deepfakes Part 1, Part 2, or Part 3 please start there. Laurie Segall and her team have a new resolve for the investigation into Mr. Deepfakes. This unchartered path takes them to surprising places, with unexpected allies. Laurie shares some big, personal news and the thing the team has been waiting for finally happens. But it’s not the end of the story. If you have been targeted by sexually explicit deepfakes, we want to hear from you. Email us at hello@mostlyhuman.com. For help and resources, visit beyondmrdeepfakes.com. If you or a loved one need support, text HOP to 64673 or call/text 988. Find Laurie’s short-form docuseries on Mr Deepfakes — in partnership with Paris Hilton — on TikTok.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is Life Better When AI Takes the Reins?

A note to listeners: The 4th and final installment of Searching for Mr. Deepfakes will be released on July 9th. The AI revolution is here. It’s a part of every facet of our lives — or at least trying to be — from work, to dating, from parenting to how we spend our free time. But is life so much better when we let AI in? Joanna Stern, longtime tech journalist and author of I Am Not a Robot, went all in on AI for a year to see if this technology could fulfill its promise. Over twelve months, Joanna had her mammogram read by AI, took a family vacation in a Waymo, and spent a weekend away with her AI boyfriend, Evan. What did Joanna learn from this year of AI? Host Laurie Segall sits down with Joanna to talk AI lovers, atrophy of the brain, and the impact — good and bad — AI can have on our health, relationships and life. The two tech journalists talk about what is lost with technological progress and what we should work to preserve. At the heart of this question is what, ultimately, will get us closer to our humanity. The answer may surprise you. Plus: they let ChatGPT simulate the entire interview. It was, to put it kindly, a book report. Joanna Stern is the founder of of New Things, an independent media company, and author of I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to do (Almost) Everything.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Searching for Mr. Deepfakes: The Encounter [Part 3]

A note to listeners: This is Part 3 of a 4-part series. If you have not yet listened to Searching for Mr. Deepfakes Part 1 or 2, please start there. Laurie Segall and her investigative team return from Canada and dive into the real-world and online clues they recovered from their trip. As they dive deep into who this person is they find some surprising details. They return to Canada one last time in the hopes of confronting the man behind Mr. Deepfakes. Meanwhile the scourge of deepfake abuse spreads. A woman in Tennessee discovers her image has been weaponized against her, violating the trust she built in her community, for money and sometimes more. Note: Some voices in this episode have been disguised to protect their identities. If you have been targeted by sexually explicit deepfakes, we want to hear from you. Email us at hello@mostlyhuman.com. For help and resources, visit beyondmrdeepfakes.com. If you or a loved one need support, text HOP to 64673 or call/text 988. Find Laurie’s short-form docuseries on Mr Deepfakes — in partnership with Paris Hilton — on TikTok.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Searching for Mr. Deepfakes: The Tip [Part 2]

A note to listeners: This is Part 2 of a 4-part series. If you have not yet listened to Searching for Mr. Deepfakes Part 1, please start there. After officially launching an investigation into the anonymous person behind Mr. Deepfakes — the largest deepfake pornography site on the internet — using good-guy hackers and a call-out on social media to see if anybody out there knows anything, Laurie Segall gets a tip. Someone in the Netherlands thinks he has identified who Mr. Deepfakes is and this tip pushes Laurie and her team out of the virtual world, and into the real one. Are the digital breadcrumbs — along with the on-the-ground clues Laurie gathers — enough to lead her to a real person? Meanwhile, the threat of deepfake pornography spreads. More famous and powerful women come out as victims of Deepfake pornography, inching this fringe topic near the center. But the abuse is hitting closer to home, too. Laurie talks to a Minnesotan woman whose sense of safety and community are shattered when it’s discovered a family friend has been making deepfake pornography of her and many of her friends. If you have been targeted by sexually explicit deepfakes, we want to hear from you. Email us at hello@mostlyhuman.com. For help and resources, visit beyondmrdeepfakes.com. If you or a loved one need support, text HOP to 64673 or call/text 988. Find Laurie’s short-form docuseries on Mr Deepfakes — in partnership with Paris Hilton — on TikTok.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Searching for Mr. Deepfakes: ‘The Most Dangerous Man on the Internet’ [Part 1]

When journalist Laurie Segall first stumbled upon Mr. Deepfakes — the largest deepfake pornography site on the internet, with an estimated 17 million monthly visitors at its peak — she couldn't shake one question: who was the anonymous man behind it? In part one of this four-part investigative series, Laurie introduces us to Joanne Chew, an LA-based artist and actor who discovered hundreds of AI-generated pornographic images and videos of herself online, made without her knowledge or consent. Joanne's story is just one example of the abuse enabled by Mr. Deepfakes — a site that functioned not only as a user-generated video platform, but also a thriving community where users learned to create deepfakes, monetized them, and pushed the technology further. With the help of some top cyber security experts, and a public call out to her online community for help, Laurie launches her investigation. Will an anonymous tip jumpstart her investigation? If you have been targeted by sexually explicit deepfakes, we want to hear from you. Email us at hello@mostlyhuman.com. For help and resources, visit beyondmrdeepfakes.com. If you or a loved one need support, text HOP to 64673 or call/text 988. Find Laurie’s short-form docuseries on Mr Deepfakes — in partnership with Paris Hilton — on TikTok. If you have thoughts or questions for Laurie about this episode or anything Mostly Human, email us at hello@mostlyhuman.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.