Artificial intelligence on the attack of the Marvel star

The star's team immediately launched legal proceedings against the developer of the artificial intelligence app for using her name, likeness and voice in an online ad without her permission. The ad promoted an AI photo editing service: 90s Yearbook & Avatar. Of course, they wanted to further encourage viewers by using Scarlett Johansson's avatar. Their attempt did not meet fertile ground.

The 22-second ad showed the Marvel star backstage during the filming of her latest film Black Widow, where she said: “What's going on guys? I'm Scarlett and I invite you to an adventure." A transition follows, where the voice of Scarlett Johansson can be heard, recreated by artificial intelligence. “This is not just limited to avatars. You can also create images with texts and even AI videos. This is not to be missed,” declares an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated voice.

The developer wanted to protect himself with the fine print, which says that the images and avatar are created with artificial intelligence. This has nothingč in common with this person." But that certainly won't save them if the case comes to court.

Johansson's representatives told Variety that the actress was never a spokesperson for the app and that her lawyer, Kevin Yorn, “has handled the situation in a legal sense.” So far, the app developer has not yet commented on the incident and the serious allegations of the legal team. In all likelihood, he will reach an agreement with the American actress' legal team even before the start of the legal proceedings. Otherwise, the developer faces a more or less lost legal battle and unnecessary legal costs.

Scams are becoming more and more common

We recently wrote about deepfake videos, where malicious people used artificial intelligence to create fake videos with images of famous personalities. The fake MrBeast promoted the new iPhone 15s, which were "luckily" available for just $2. Fake Elon Musk talked about a great investment opportunity, and Tom Hanks promoted a controversial dental plan.

As artificial intelligence becomes more accessible and sophisticated, we are likely to see many more similar examples in the future. Musicians are still faced with voice cloning, which can create the impression that Drake is releasing a new song or Johnny Cash is singing a Taylor Swift song.

The US and the European Union are preparing a law to regulate the use of artificial intelligence. Much of the legal debate centers on copyright. Artificial intelligence language models, such as those used by OpenAI, Meta, and Google, are trained on data drawn from all over the web, including vast amounts of copyrighted content. Digital artists have sued Stability AI, Midjourney and DeviantArt for allegedly using copyrighted art to train AI models and in some cases recreating very similar works. Comedian Sarah Silverman and two other authors have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging the company used their books for training.

Some authors (Grimes, Herndon) have voluntarily allowed their voices to be used to create recordings/music with artificial intelligence, but they still warn others to clearly define in the contract what their voice can be used for and for how long. It should also state what happens to copyright after the death of the author.

Artificial intelligence has shaken the existing legislation, which was not prepared for such a rapid development of new technology. It is clear that this morale will adapt quickly. The damage has already been done, but it is necessary to prevent its further spread.