Scarlett Johansson hits AI app with legal action for cloning her voice in an ad | An AI-generated version of Scarlett Johansson’s voice appeared in an online ad without her consent.::Scarlett Johansson is taking legal action against an AI app developer for using her likeness in an online ad without her consent.
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I’d be amazed if it was actually her and not her lawyer/agency
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Yeah fuck em, shit like this without consent should be (/is?) illegal
- Well duh. Of course you go through your legal team. That’s what they’re for.
Imitating celebrities is usually done for satire and very much protected free speech.
Why should it be illegal in this case? I can see that the rich and famous would be able to profit from licensing and endorsement deals, but what’s the public benefit?
ETA: So many downvotes. Where did all the eat-the-rich-people go, all of a sudden?
There’s a very obvious distinction between satire, I.E. imitating a public figure to make a joke about them, and using their likeness for marketing, I.E. making it seem as if that public figure endorses a product/service/etc.
One is legally protected free speech, the other is illegally misusing a person’s likeness, and regardless of whether or not they are a celebrity should be protected against because it is deceptive to the public and violates the person’s inherent right to control of their own likeness.
Regardless of your views on celebrity in general and the merit of famous figures in society, it’s quite clear that this kind of AI mimicry needs to be stomped out fast and early, or else we will rapidly end up in a situation where shady scam artists and massive corporate interests will freely use AI zombies of popular personalities, living or dead, to hawk their wares with impunity.
That’s a rather odd reply. I don’t think the ideology you express is very common. If you were to tell me more, I would read it.
I did not give any views on celebrities. I simply asked what the public benefit was. Do I infer correctly that, to you, the public benefit is beside that point, but that your view on this is determined by your views of celebrities?
Please note that fraud is criminal, which makes it hard to see what exactly you would want to be done about “shady scam artists”.
Note also that “massive corporations” can only benefit here if there is a kind of property right, similar to a trademark or a copyright. EG The Disney corporation still owns the rights to “Mickey Mouse”, created in 1928. That’s the same year in which Fleming discovered Penicillin, which is owned by no one. So if you have a problem with “massive corporations” extracting wealth, here, you very much need to rethink your position.
Fwiw I disagreed with you but upvoted for making a reasoned argument. We do need to drop that reddit mentality of downvote what you disagree with. IMHO you should downvote things that are either demonstrably false, or low-effort.
That said, I think both voice/image impersonation individually would fit the bill for “intent to deceive”. I’d be surprised if it didn’t already have a lot of legal precedent in the realm of advertising.
https://casetext.com/case/waits-v-frito-lay-inc
The tom watts case is the only one I’m aware of off the top of my head, but the TL/Dr is they tried to license a song of his to use, he refused, so they just hired an impersonator to sing in his style instead. He sued Frito lay and won.
The developer is called “convert software”, which is a pretty vague name. This developer/team could be anywhere in the world.
good for her, sucks this sort of stuff has to be dealt with already. A.I. tech has developed wayyy faster than I thought
Joan Is Awful coming soon to a reality near you
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Scarlett Johansson is taking legal action against an AI app developer for using her name and likeness in an online ad, according to a report from Variety.
As reported by Variety, the 22-second ad showed Johansson behind the scenes while filming Black Widow, where she actually says “What’s up guys?
It’s Scarlett and I want you to come with me.” But then, the ad transitions away from Johansson, while an AI-generated voice meant to sound like the actress states: “It’s not limited to avatars only.
At the very bottom of the ad, Variety reports that Convert Software — the developer behind the app — included text that reads: “Images produced by Lisa AI.
It has nothing to do with this person.” Representatives for Johansson tell Variety that the actress was never a spokesperson for the app and that her attorney, Kevin Yorn, “handled the situation in a legal capacity.”
Neither Yorn nor Convert Software responded to The Verge’s request for comment about the nature of the legal action.
The original article contains 311 words, the summary contains 168 words. Saved 46%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
