Scarlett Johansson has warned of the “imminent dangers of AI” after a deepfake video of her and other prominent Jewish celebrities opposing recent antisemitic remarks from Kanye West went viral this week.
The video contained AI-generated versions of more than a dozen celebrities, including Johansson, David Schwimmer, Jerry Seinfeld, Drake, Adam Sandler, Stephen Spielberg, and Mila Kunis.
It opened with a deepfake likeness of Johansson in a T-shirt that was emblazoned with a hand and middle finger extended, a Star of David and the name Kanye. The video was set to an electronic version of “Hava Nagila”, a Jewish folk song that is typically played at celebratory cultural events, and ended with the slogan: “Enough is enough. Join the fight against antisemitism.”
Other stars depicted included Sacha Baron Cohen, Jack Black, Natalie Portman, Adam Levine, Ben Stiller and Lenny Kravitz.
“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 in a statement to People.
“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.”
West, now known as Ye, repeatedly referred to himself as a “Nazi” and praised Hitler on X before deactivating his account.
He also appeared in an advert during the Super Bowl directing people to his website, which started selling only one product – T-shirts with swastikas on them. The site was later taken down by Shopify due to policy violations, while Fox Television Stations CEO, Jack Abernethy, also condemned the ad in a note to staff.
Johansson has been one of the most vocal celebrities against the use of non-consensual AI. Last year she threatened legal action against OpenAI after the company used a voice resembling her own in its new ChatGPT product – nine months after she said she turned down the company’s request to voice their AI system.
OpenAI eventually removed the heavily promoted voice option from ChatGPT after a widespread reaction.
Johansson said she had 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: “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 US government is paralysed when it comes to passing legislation that protects all of its citizens against the imminent dangers of AI.”
The actor urged elected officials to take legislative action against AI abuses, calling it a “bipartisan issue that enormously affects the immediate future of humanity at large”.
Her comments come as the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority said fake adverts featuring celebrities remain the most common type of scam adverts appearing online.
The AI video was created by Ori Bejerano, who describes himself as a generative AI expert on his Instagram bio. His original post included a notice that said the content was “digitally created or altered with AI to seem real”.
