Scarlett Johansson has become the latest high-profile victim of a seemingly unauthorised deepfake advert. A lawyer for the actress has vowed to take legal action after the promo appeared online.
The 22-second ad, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, and has since been taken down, used an image-generating app called Lisa AI: 90’s Yearbook & Avatar, to take real footage of Johansson and generate a fake image and dialogue for her.
A lawyer for Johansson said the company had used her likeness without permission, using footage from a campaign she did with fundraising company Omaze.
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Variety reported that the promo had included a disclaimer under the image of Johansson, which said: “Images produced by Lisa AI. It has nothing to do with this person.”
But Johansson’s lawyer Kevin Yorn warned: “We do not take these things lightly.
“Per our usual course of action in these circumstances, we will deal with it with all legal remedies that we will have.”
Johansson isn’t the first celebrity to have their name and likeness falsely depicted. A month ago, Tom Hanks warned fans about a fake advertisement using an artificial intelligence-generated version of his likeness without his permission.
AI has been a major issue in the recent Hollywood strikes, with both US actors and writers calling for increased safeguards against unauthorised use of their likenesses and works.
