World news bites: AI turns Ukrainian into a Russian

Rorisang Modiba delivers daily updates from around the world.

Russia – Olga Loiek, a 21-year-old student at the University of Pennsylvania, found that her image and voice were falsely used on Chinese social media platforms. AI technology was used to make videos in which she appeared to support Russian interests and products despite her Ukrainian heritage and not speaking Mandarin. These videos featured her supporting Russia-China relations across platforms like Xiaohongshu and Bilibili. The company behind this, HeyGen, blamed a security breach for the incident and has since taken steps to block any further misuse of her image.

US – The “beef” between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake has received a lot of attention from social media. Kendrick Lamar’s song “Not Like Us” made strong accusations against Drake, including inappropriate conduct with young women. Released on 4 May, the song has spread widely, even being played at NBA games and featured in DJ sets across major cities. Drake has accusations against Kendrick, including domestic violence. 

France – A prisoner known as “The Fly,” Mohamed Amra, who was arrested for burglary, escaped custody in Normandy, France, when a group of armed men attacked the police van transporting him from a court hearing. The attack happened at a toll booth in Incarville in the Eure region, started by a Peugeot that rammed the van. The attackers, carrying long guns and accompanied by accomplices in an Audi, opened fire, killing two prison officers. French authorities, including 200 gendarmes “who are members of a military force in France”, have launched a manhunt, employing vehicle checks and other measures. 

US – The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is considering legal action against Boeing for potential violations of a 2021 agreement that protected the company from criminal charges related to two fatal accidents involving its 737 Max aircraft. These crashes happened in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019, resulting in 346 deaths. The DoJ accuses Boeing of failing to maintain adequate compliance and ethics programmes to prevent fraud. Despite the allegations, Boeing argues that it has followed the agreement’s terms. 

Pictured above: The Ukrainian student Olga Loiek. 

Image source: X

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