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Ukrainian YouTuber Olga Loiek spotted AI clones of herself selling Russian goods on Chinese social media.
In her spare time, 20-year-old Olga Loiek studies cognitive science at the University of Pennsylvania, uploading videos to YouTube about mental health and her views on the world. Not long after her channel began, she started receiving messages from followers saying they had seen her on social media.
To them, she appeared not as Ukrainian Olga but as a Russian woman who spoke Mandarin and was enthused about China, seeking to marry a Chinese man. This Russian version of her goes by several names, including Natasha, Anna, or Grace, depending on what platform you see her on.
However, this avatar has nothing to do with Olga herself. Instead, it’s an AI-generated clone based on her image and used without her consent.
AI clones are used to sell goods
In some of these videos, the clones will seek to sell Russian goods to China, while in others, they promote Russia and China’s national ties. Many of them spent time praising Chinese history and culture or talking about how Russian men want to marry Chinese women and how she herself wants to marry a Chinese man.
“If you marry Russian women, we will wash clothes, cook, and wash dishes for you every day,” one avatar said. “We will also give you foreign babies, as many as you want.”
As a Ukrainian woman and in the current climate where Russia has been at war with Ukraine since 2022, Olga has spoken to broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) about how ‘violating’ the experience has been.
“I started translating the videos with Google Translate, and I realized that most of these accounts are talking about things like China and Russia and how good the relationship between China and Russia is,” she said. “This feels very violating.”
“This is probably used to make people in China feel that foreigners feel that their country is superior.”

When Olga and her followers complained to Chinese social media sites, such as HeyGen and Douyin, several videos were taken down. However, this issue doesn’t end there, indicating a broader problem around the lack of provision to prevent people’s images from being used to feed generative AI tools. With a recent study showing that AI faces are more convincing than real ones, the risk of people believing such content is real is high.
Featured image: Olga Loiek
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For the first time since November 2021, the price of Bitcoin has surged past $60,000, setting new record highs in local currencies across numerous global markets.
The Bitcoin price rose to $63,968 on Wednesday before falling back to around $60,000. At the time of writing, it stood at $61,463, marking an increase of more than 39% year to date.
The currency has reached new peaks in various places in local terms, including in financially robust countries such as China, Japan, the U.K., and India, as well as emerging markets like Argentina, Turkey, and Egypt.
The swift rise has rekindled memories of the cryptocurrency bull market, which pushed the token to its all-time high of nearly $69,000 in November 2021, as investors rushed in, driven by the fear of “missing out” on potential further increases in price.
Some investors posted on social media about the rapid increase, celebrating the sudden surge.

#Bitcoin is forming a lower-timeframe bullish pennant, right below the last resistance before all-time highs.
Hold tight, and enjoy the ride. pic.twitter.com/AHtkCEo5Ii
— Jelle (@CryptoJelleNL) March 1, 2024

Best month ever for the fund. By far.
Not a solicitation to invest.
Shout out to the #Bitcoin growth engine.
— Dr. Jeff Ross (@VailshireCap) March 1, 2024

One anonymous analyst said that, “Bull market has started. If history is any guide, we will see ~10 months of face-melting [fear of missing out] FOMO: extreme price pumps combined with multiple -30% drops.”

RED DOT !!
Accumulation phase has ended: no more easy buying opportunities in orderly and slowly increasing markets.
Bull market has started. If history is any guide, we will see ~10 months of face melting fomo: extreme price pumps combined with multiple -30% drops. Enjoy! pic.twitter.com/8MyZJUSUlb
— PlanB (@100trillionUSD) March 1, 2024

Bitcoin ETFs make history
Last month, U.S. authorities gave the green light for the introduction of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by prominent asset managers such as BlackRock and Invesco, setting the stage for a surge of fresh investment from individuals aiming to speculate on the cryptocurrency via a regulated framework.
“Investors should remain cautious about the myriad risks associated with Bitcoin and products whose value is tied to crypto,” stated Gary Gensler, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman.

BREAKING: BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, $IBIT, hits a record $10 billion in assets under management.
This is the fastest an ETF has hit $10 billion in assets under management, at 37 trading days.
Just ~4% of all ETFs have reached the $10 billion mark.
More history made by #Bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/aCgZ7jOB2V
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) March 1, 2024

According to K33 Research as cited by the Financial Times, the 11 funds currently possess 303,000 bitcoins, valued at $18 billion, which corresponds to approximately 1.5% of the total bitcoin supply. Today (1st March), BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF reached a record $10 billion in assets under management, reportedly marking the quickest time an ETF has achieved this milestone, in just 37 trading days.
Featured image: DALL·E / Canva
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Swedish company Embracer Group AB is set to sell Saber Interactive to a group of private investors for $500 million.
Saber is one of the gaming publishing and development arms of parent company Embracer. The company is made up of 20 individual gaming studios with 2,500 employees worldwide and has titles such as Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, Jurassic Park: Survival, World War Z, and a possible reboot of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic in the works.
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier broke the story and posted to X about Saber becoming a private company with a possible 3,500 employees, according to his unnamed source:

SCOOP: Saber Interactive, developer of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake, will leave Embracer in a $500 million deal to become a privately owned company — the biggest move yet in Embracer’s ongoing cost-cutting initiative https://t.co/QzpQ2uQ9r2
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) February 29, 2024

A collapsed deal with an external investor in May last year left the company needing to take “control in our own hands.”
What those hands held was SEK 16.8 billion ($1.5 billion) debt at that time and the company has made strides to reduce this debt to SEK 8 billion ($728.2 million) by the end of this month, March 31.
A translated investor earnings call showed the CEO,  Lars Wingefors stating the collapsed deal and the prospective investor could not be named for legal reasons.
“You don’t comment on business partnerships unless both partners would like to do that,” Wingefors would say. “The background given to us as to why the partnership didn’t happen was not because of the terms or the pipeline of games. It was more, ‘Yes, they would like to do something in the future, but not now,’ which became a ‘no’ for us.”
Embracer selling Saber
Now might be the time for Embracer and these investors, but it remains to be seen if this $500 million deal has anything to do with the one that collapsed back in May 2023.
What it does define is the future of certain franchises and games under the Saber banner and helps the Swedish company take a serious amount off the debt they currently have.
Warhammer 40000: Space Marine was all set for a November 2023 launch and was pushed back to August 2024 after impressive gameplay gave fans much to get excited about. The much rumored Star Wars: The Knights of the Old Republic is still in development according to Schreier, but no news has been heard as the title has been in limbo since 2022.
Borderland’s developer Gearbox Interactive, who is also owned by Embracer, has been the source of many rumors with CEO Randy Pitchford supposedly holding an all-staff meeting about developments at the company, according to Kotaku.
Embracer has already seen one of their studios fold as Volition, the creator of the Saint’s Row franchise would post to Linkedin:
The studio’s collapse was one of the first signs of financial strain under Embracer, who had purchased 27 companies during the covid-era, with Saber being one of them.
Earlier this month we reported that Embracer would continue a restructuring process that follows from its inception in June 2023.
“As part of the restructuring program, Embracer still has a few larger structured divestment processes ongoing that could strengthen our balance sheet and further reduce [capital expenditure],” Wingefors said. “Processes are in mature stages.”
It seems the Saber deal has been in the works for some time and the restructuring of the balance sheet will continue for Embracer. A close eye will be kept on the company’s movements ahead of the projected deadline of March 31 to remove the rest of the debt they still carry.
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