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A platform that promises "spicy AI chatting" left nearly two million images and videos, many of them showing private citizens, exposed to the public, 404 Media reported.
Secret Desires, an erotic chatbot and AI image generator, left cloud storage containers of photos, women's names, and other personal information like workplaces and universities, vulnerable, according to 404 Media.
This "massive leak" is the latest case of people using generative AI tools to turn innocent photos into nonconsensual explicit deepfakes.
SEE ALSO: Is AI porn the next horizon in self-pleasure — and is it ethical?Some of the photos and videos were taken from real influencers, public figures, and non-famous women. The latter category includes Snapchat screenshots and at least one yearbook photo. Some of the exposed media included user-generated AI images, such as those created with a now-defunct "faceswap" feature, which Secret Desires removed earlier this year.
Like Character.AI or Replika, Secret Desires allows users to create AI personas and chat with them. While pornographic content isn't allowed on Character.AI (and is only allowed for certain Replika users), Secret Desires says it "provides limitless intimacy and connection" on its Quick Start Guide.
As 404 Media found, the AI-generated media found in the vulnerable storage containers were mostly explicit. Some of the file names included terms like "17-year-old."
The company didn't respond to 404 Media's request for comment, but the files became inaccessible around an hour after the publication reached out.
For years, women and girls have been victims of explicit deepfakes, which are AI-generated content. Many deepfakes are women's likenesses "faceswapped" onto pornographic videos. This applies to celebrities like Taylor Swift as well as women who are not famous. This also happens to girls, creating online child sex abuse material.
This year, Congress passed the Take It Down Act to combat deepfake images. The law proved controversial, as several free speech and advocacy groups claim that it can be weaponized against consensual explicit material or political speech.
Once upon a time, Americans lined up in droves outside Walmarts and Targets, still full from Thanksgiving dinner, so they could be first in the door. Thankfully, these frenzied Black Friday free-for-alls are a relic of a bygone era. Now, not only can you order all of the best Black Friday deals online, but for the past few years, retailers have also been launching their Black Friday sales weeks in advance of Thanksgiving.
So, ready or not, Black Friday is already here. You can tell because Mashable is once again working around the clock to bring you live updates on all of the latest sales, standout deals, price drops, and inventory updates. Already, we've spied record discounts on flagship noise-cancelling headphones, Apple laptops and tablets, Dyson appliances, and some of the year's most popular tech gifts.
Check out the top early deals so far, and keep scrolling for the full schedule of events and the latest live updates and news from the Mashable shopping team.
Top Black Friday Deals at a glance: The best headphones deal Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (1st Gen) $299 (save $130) Get Deal Best Earuds Deal Apple AirPods Pro 2 $139 (save $100) Get Deal Best Deal Under $25 Apple AirTag $17.97 (save $11.03) Get Deal Best TV Under $1,000 Samsung 55-inch The Frame LS03F 4K QLED Smart TV $897.99 (save $300) Get Deal Best TV Under $500 Samsung 65-inch QN65 4K QLED Smart TV 2025 $448 (save $151.99) Get Deal Best Amazon Device Deal Amazon Echo Pop $21.99 (save $18) Get Deal Best Apple laptop deal 13-inch Apple MacBook Air (M4) $749 (save $250) Get Deal Best Kitchen Deal Vitamix 5200 Professional-Grade Blender $299.95 (save $250.04) Get Deal Stocking Stuffer Deal Orastone Electric Hand Warmers $17.99 (save $12) Get Deal Best Lego Deal Lego Wicked Welcome to Emerald City Building Set $79.95 (save $20.04) Get DealRemember: Black Friday 2025 takes place on Friday, Nov. 28, and is quickly followed by Cyber Week, which starts on Monday, Dec. 1. However, you can already shop plenty of sales at all the major online retailers. If you want to be the first to know when new sales go online, then keep checking back as we provide live updates on the shopping festivities.
Alongside his novels, Joe Hill is paid to write a screenplay each year. But he doesn't do it for the money.
Hill, whose new novel King Sorrow published in October, has also found success in the world of film and TV through adaptations of his work. For example, The Black Phone franchise is based on his 2004 short story, and King Sorrow is currently being developed for TV. While news of adaptations of Hill’s work is frequently reported in the trades, his screenwriting hasn't been widely publicized. Sitting down with Mashable recently to speak about everything from Stephen King references in his new novel to AI, though, he confirmed that it's a big part of his professional life.
"I write a screenplay every single year," Hill told Mashable. "And I do it for the healthcare."
SEE ALSO: Joe Hill breaks down the Stephen King references in his new novelHill explained that he gets healthcare for his family through the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which is the union that represents screenwriters. In order to be eligible to receive this, you have to meet annual minimum earning requirements. In 2024, Hill's wife Gillian received a cancer diagnosis that required surgery. Having insurance through the WGA saved the family tens of thousands of dollars.
"There were a whole bunch of tests, you know, and consultations in the lead-up to the operation, but the operation alone was $60,000," Hill said. "Because I have Hollywood healthcare that I get for writing screenplays, I only had to pay 700 bucks. So in a very practical way, it's impossible to put a value, to me personally, on the work I do as a screenwriter, because it's so important to have access to that healthcare insurance."
Hill explained that the screenplay he's working on at the moment is a an adaptation of his own work.
"Right now I'm revising a screenplay that I was paid for for 2025," he said. "The script I'm working on now is an adaptation of an unpublished novella that I'd written that will be published eventually."
Featured Video For You Cooper Hoffman and 'The Long Walk' cast compete for ultimate Stephen King film knowledgeHill said there was a lapse in his healthcare coverage a while back that led to him going round Hollywood to try and drum up some work — and writer/director Scott Derrickson, who directed The Black Phone, wanted to help out.
"He treated it like we were talking about his family healthcare," said Hill. "He's like, 'We're booking you a gig.' And, you know, we talked about possibilities, and then I sent him this novella I had written that hadn't been published, and a pitch for how I'd adapt it, and he got psyched. And he's like, 'We gotta do this.' And so he got me the gig to write the script. Now I'm revising it for Sony Screen Gems."
"it's so important to have access to that healthcare insurance"Hill's wife has now made a full recovery, but Hill still thinks of screenplay writing as "the best thing I can do for my family." He's going to keep working on one every year, alongside his plans to write a novel each year in his fifties.
"The next two things I've got lined up are adaptations of other people's words," Hill said, "which I'm really excited about."