A deepfake video featuring the likes of Scarlett Johannson, Adam Levine, Mila Kunis, Lenny Kravitz, Mark Zuckerberg, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Stiller, Natalie Portman, David Schwimmer and others, set to “Hava Nagila,” a Jewish folk song that is typically played at celebratory cultural events has gone viral.
This, after Kanye West released a bizarre Super Bowl ad promoting his fashion line Yeezy that raised plenty of eyebrows due to his tweets where he repeatedly made anti-Semitic remarks.
Now Scarlett Johannson has come out, condemning antisemitism and calling for legislation to protect the public from artificial intelligence, after a deepfake video created with the technology, widely circulated on social media this week.
The video portrayed Johansson wearing a t-shirt featuring an extended middle finger, a Star of David, and Kanye West’s name. This bore the implication that Johannson and other celebrities were reacting to West’s recent antisemitic comments and the swastika-emblazoned shirt he was selling (before Shopify removed it) on his Yeezy website. Link to video here
“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 obtained by CNN. “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.”
Adding to this Johannson 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.”
This is not the first and most definitely won’t be the last time that Johannson has voiced her concerns regarding AI. Just last year, the Marvel star took legal action against OpenAI, objecting to the use of a synthetic voice on ChatGPT that she described was “eerily similar” to her own.
Johannson further added, “I urge the U.S government to make the passing of legislation limiting AI use a top priority,” she said. “It is a bipartisan issue that enormously affects the immediate future of humanity at large.”
The AI video was created by Ori Bejerano, who describes himself as a generative AI expert on his Instagram bio. His original post of the video includes a notice that reads, “This content was digitally crated or altered with AI to seem real.” Bejerano’s Instagram caption, written in Hebrew and translated to English by CNN, read in part. “It’s time to stop being silent and response to antisemites like Kanye West in the strongest way possible. We must demand from the social networks to stop giving stage to antisemitism and hatred.”
In her statement on Wednesday, Johansson called on elected officials to take legislative action against AI abuses. Johansson is the only celebrity in the fake video to speak out against the use of AI so far, time will tell if the other celebrities mentioned follow suit.
