6 celebrities hitting back at AI companies: from Taylor Swift’s ‘furious’ reaction to her explicit deepfakes, to Scarlett Johansson, Sarah Silverman and Game of Thrones’ George R.R. Martin’s lawsuits

Mar 1, 2024

Taylor Swift, Tom Hanks and Sarah Silverman have all felt the effects of AI on their careers. Photos: AP

When Tom Hanks seemed to endorse an obscure dental plan online, the Elvis actor was as confused as his fans, and took matters into his own hands on Instagram

Even worse, the family of late comedian and Disney voice-over actor George Carlin were horrified to discover a new stand-up special online given that he’d died in 2008 – and decided to sue

Through the years, great minds from Elon Musk to Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates have aired their concerns about the power of AI to potentially disrupt – and eventually maybe even end – our lives. But for some celebrities, the consequences are already very real.

Last April, Universal Music Group forced Apple and Spotify to remove the song “Heart On My Sleeve” that was created with the AI vocals of Drake and The Weeknd. Not long after, another AI release had Drake “singing” Ice Spice’s “Munch”, which the rapper called “the final straw” on his Instagram Stories.

AI-created versions of Drake’s vocals were used to cover Ice Spice’s “Munch” without his consent. Photos: @champagnepapi, @_ice_spice_munch_/Instagram

And women in the entertainment industry have had it even worse: most recently, explicit, computer-generated images of Taylor Swift went viral before platforms like X and Instagram could take them down.

So which famous faces are standing up to the AI companies? Here’s a rundown of six of them.

1. Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson in Black Widow. Photo: Disney

In November last year, the Avengers: Endgame actress sued the company Lisa AI after it created a promotional video using her likeness and voice without her permission. Seemingly speaking from the set of Marvel’s Black Widow, Johansson is shown explaining the benefits of the company’s avatar app.

“We do not take these things lightly,” her lawyer told Variety. “Per our usual course of action … we will deal with it with all legal remedies that we will have.” The ad has since been removed.

2. Sarah Silverman

US comedian Sarah Silverman attends the For Your Consideration red carpet event for the Showtime series Who is America in May 2019, in Los Angeles. Photo: AFP via Getty Images/TNS

In July last year, the Maestro actress and comedian brought a class-action lawsuit against OpenAI, according to The New York Times. The lawsuit claimed the companies “copied and ingested” her work in order to train their AI programmes. Unfortunately for the star, however, her claims were partially thrown out by a judge on February 13.