WTF?! Scarlett Johansson, who has previously spoken out against the misuse of AI, is now calling for the US government to pass legislation that protects people against this practice. It comes after the Black Widow actress and several other celebrities appeared in an AI-generated video that went viral.
The video in question was created by an Instagram user who calls themselves a generative-AI expert in their bio. It is a response to Kanye West's Super Bowl ad, in which the rapper bought ad space during the game to increase traffic to his website. After the ad aired, West changed the site into a storefront that contained a single item: a white T-shirt with a swastika. Shopify removed the storefront soon after it went live.
The response video features AI-generated versions of Johansson, Drake, Natalie Portman, Jerry Seinfeld, Steven Spielberg, Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, Woody Allen, and several other Jewish celebrities. They are all wearing white T-shirts with a cartoon hand featuring a Star of David in the middle, showing the middle finger. The word "Kanye" is written underneath.
Like most modern generative AI videos, this one has convinced many people that it's the real celebs taking part. It does have the usual signs that it's the work of an AI, such as the blurriness, occasional weird hands, and uncanny valley faces, but not everyone will notice them. The video ends with "Enough is Enough" and "Join the Fight Against Antisemitism."
Johansson said in the statement that while she has no tolerance for antisemitism or hate speech of any kind, she does "firmly believe that the potential for hate speech multiplied by AI is a far greater threat than any one person who takes accountability for it. We must call out the misuse of AI, no matter its messaging, or we risk losing a hold on reality."
"I have unfortunately been a very public victim of AI, but the truth is that the threat of AI affects each and every one of us," she added.
Back in 2019, Johansson slammed deepfaked porn videos that superimposed her face onto adult actresses' bodies. The Avengers star appeared in many of these videos, including one that has been viewed over 1.5 million times.
"Nothing can stop someone from cutting and pasting my image or anyone else's onto a different body and making it look as eerily realistic as desired," she said. "The fact is that trying to protect yourself from the Internet and its depravity is basically a lost cause [...] The Internet is a vast wormhole of darkness that eats itself."
Johansson also had a run-in with OpenAI last year when the voice for the GPT-4o model featured a voice assistant, Sky, that sounded a lot like her. Johansson said she was approached by OpenAI nine months earlier to voice Sky but said no. She added that she had been "forced to hire legal counsel" as a result of the similarities.
"There is a 1,000-foot wave coming regarding AI that several progressive countries, not including the United States, have responded to in a responsible manner. It is terrifying that the U.S. government is paralyzed when it comes to passing legislation that protects all of its citizens against the imminent dangers of AI," Johansson said in her recent statement.
"I urge the U.S. government to make the passing of legislation limiting AI use a top priority; it is a bipartisan issue that enormously affects the immediate future of humanity at large."
Scarlett Johansson calls for AI legislation after viral deepfake video
