The US and UK decided not to sign an AI safety statement at the AI Action Summit in Paris, which was signed by many other countries. French President Emmanual Macron spoke strongly about the need for AI regulation. He even opened the event with an AI-generated deepfake video that put his face in all sorts of clips, including the MacGyver TV show. Macron used the stunt to draw attention to the use of genAI programs, but he got well-deserved pushback.
Fast-forward to Wednesday, and a deepfake AI video that sends a strong anti-Kanye message has gone viral online. While the video feels like the proper response to Kanye’s latest actions, it’s now drawing backlash from the celebrities who were shown in the video with the help of AI.
One of them is Scarlett Johansson, who is calling for government regulation of AI to prevent abuse like this. The beloved actress is taking a public stance against AI for the second time in a matter of months. Previously, Johansson fought OpenAI, whose Advanced Voice Mode for ChatGPT sounded too similar to her character from the movie Her.
If you’ve been living under a rock, you might have missed Kanye returning to X last week to post antisemitic comments. He also started selling shirts with a swastika on his website before they were taken down by Shopify.
The video below features plenty of celebrities who were added to the clip with the help of an unknown AI program. The fake celebrities are wearing white shirts with a middle finger atop Kanye’s name. Scarlett Johansson is the first of these celebrities to appear in the clip.
As you can see in the screenshot at the top of this post, Instagram identifies it as content generated with AI. People who are already aware of such video capabilities from genAI programs would realize the video is created with AI. But not everyone knows that. Some might think that Johansson and others have indeed decided to appear in this anti-Kanye clip. Nobody would blame them, either.
The actress isn’t happy with the use of her likeness in an AI clip, regardless of the message. She denounced “the misuse of AI, no matter what its messaging” in a statement to People.
“It has been brought to my attention by family members and friends, that an AI-generated video featuring my likeness, in response to an antisemitic view, has been circulating online and gaining traction,” Johansson said. “I am a Jewish woman who has no tolerance for antisemitism or hate speech of any kind. But I also 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.”
The actress continued, “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. There is a 1000-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 US government is paralyzed when it comes to passing legislation that protects all of its citizens against the imminent dangers of AI. 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.”
It is too early to tell how or even if the government will respond. However, the Trump administration has a clear policy regarding AI that VP JD Vance outlined in Paris. AI regulation could “kill a transformative industry just as it’s taking off,” he said, pointing out that “pro-growth AI policies” should come before safety.
With those comments, Vance wasn’t specifically addressing deepfakes like the anti-Kanye AI clip above. But the administration will have to take AI deepfakes into account. It’s incredibly easy to create these videos, and it’s only a matter of time before abuse can do more harm if regulation isn’t in place.
