AI is Making Celebrity Gay Fantasies Come True. What's Behind DeepFake Mania?

We would say Tay was a victim of our culture's deeply entrenched misogyny, except male celebrities are not off the hook either. Whether it be romantic cuddling images, like AI Timothée Chalemet in bed with AI Tom Holland, or much more hardcore representations, gay men are obsessed with the phenom.

Why? Well, if you think about it, it's the ultimate fantasy fulfillment. Remember that feeling as a teenager when we wanted nothing more than the jock on the water polo team to be gay, and make our biggest sexual fantasy come true? Imagine if you could, just by using AI. The same goes for celebrities, who we've lusted after and fantasized about for years.

Creating our dream images, or seeing our favorite celebs as we've always wished we could, is like finally being told "yes," when we were always told "no." It's a license for imagination to become reality, where suddenly any secret desire can come true. It's granting permission to scratch an itch that's been driving you crazy for years.

As appealing and exciting as this new frontier is, however, we still need to tread lightly.

Exploiting celebrities, or for that matter, other people in our real lives, can be violating and cruel. Many students in schools have fallen victim to sexual image manipulation, as a form of bullying. There are lines that shouldn't be crossed, and there are lawsuits unfolding as we speak to figure out exactly where those lines fall.

But, even besides this, if we take away all of the mystery in our fantasies because we can manifest whatever we want, whenever we want, is there a danger that we'll become accustomed to it? Part of desire comes from wanting something we don't have, or can't have, and that's what makes it exciting. If we can fulfill our every wish, will we eventually become jaded?

AI isn't going anywhere, and either are our gay fantasies, so let's just hope we can merge the two in the best way possible for everyone. Unless, of course, Shawn Mendes just wants to give us the real deal?

Jake Meyers is a licensed therapist.