Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson is taking legal action against an artificial intelligence (AI) app that used her name and likeness in an online advertisement without her permission.
In a 22-second advertisement posted on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday, the image generating app called “Lisa AI: 90’s Yearbook & Avatar” used real footage of Johansson to generate a fake image and dialogue for her.
The advertisement is now nowhere to be found, reported Variety magazine on Wednesday.
Johansson’s representatives confirmed to the news outlet that she is not a spokesperson for the app.
There was also a fake voice mimicking the actress and promoting the app.
“It’s not limited to avatars only. You can also create images with texts and even your AI videos. I think you shouldn’t miss it,” said the voice resembling Johansson’s.
Under the advertisement, fine print read: “Images produced by Lisa AI. It has nothing to do with this person.”
Johansson’s attorney Kevin Yorn told Variety: “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 have.”
A check by The Straits Times showed that the app is still available on the App Store and Google Play.
The app said that its developer team follows rapidly developing AI technologies and provides significant support to the development of AI technologies.
This is not the first time that Johansson had her image used without permission.
In a 2018 interview with the Washington Post, Johansson spoke about the danger of computer-generated deepfakes, in some of which women’s faces are inserted into explicit pornographic videos.
Johansson is no stranger to the issue. Her face has been grafted into several graphic sex scenes by anonymous online creators.
These creators use free AI software to create lifelike and convincing videos.
For instance, one bogus video, described as real “leaked” footage of the actress, has been viewed more than 1.5 million times on a popular porn site.
Johansson then said that nothing can stop someone from cutting and pasting her image or anyone else’s onto a different body and making it look as eerily realistic as possible.
“There are basically no rules on the internet because it is an abyss that remains virtually lawless, withstanding US policies which, again, only apply here,” she added.
Johansson is not the only Hollywood A-lister to speak publicly about AI misuse of their likeness and name.
In September, popular actor Tom Hanks warned his fans on Instagram about an AI-generated image of him being used in a promotional video regarding a dental plan.
“Beware! … I have nothing to do with it,” wrote Hanks on his Instagram story.
