Jamie Lee Curtis just wanted an AI ad removed, not to become the 'poster child of internet fakery'

Jamie Lee Curtis didn’t expect to beryllium astatine the forefront of the artificial quality statement successful Hollywood. But she didn’t person a choice.

The Oscar-winning histrion precocious called retired Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg connected societal media, saying the institution ignored her requests to instrumentality down a fake AI-generated advertisement connected Instagram that had been connected the level for months.

The ad, which utilized footage from an interrogation Curtis gave to MSNBC astir January’s Los Angeles country wildfires, manipulated her dependable to marque it look that she was endorsing a dental product, Curtis said.

“I was not looking to go the poster kid of net fakery, and I’m surely not the first,” Curtis told The Times by telephone Tuesday morning.

The advertisement has since been removed.

What happened to Curtis is portion of a larger contented actors are dealing with amid the emergence of generative AI technology, which has allowed their images and voices to beryllium altered successful ways they haven’t authorized. Those changes tin beryllium wildly misleading.

Images and likenesses of celebrities including Tom Hanks, Taylor Swift and Scarlett Johansson person been manipulated done AI to beforehand products and ideas they ne'er really endorsed.

AI exertion has made it easier for radical to marque these fake videos, which tin proliferate online astatine a velocity that is challenging for societal media platforms to instrumentality down. Some are calling connected societal media firms to bash much to constabulary misinformation connected their platforms.

“We are lasting astatine the turning point, and I deliberation we request to instrumentality immoderate action,” Curtis said.

Curtis archetypal became alert of the fake AI advertisement astir a period and a fractional agone erstwhile a person asked her astir the video. The “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and “Halloween” histrion past flagged the advertisement for her agents, lawyers and publicists, who directed her to nonstop a cease and desist missive to Meta, the proprietor of Facebook and Instagram.

Nothing happened.

“It’s similar a vacuum,” Curtis said. “There are nary people. You can’t scope anybody. You person an email, you nonstop an email, you ne'er get thing back.”

Two weeks later, different person flagged the aforesaid fake AI video. When Curtis wrote to her team, they assured her they went done the due channels and they did everything they could do, she said.

“I went done the due channels,” Curtis said. “There should beryllium a methodology to this. I recognize there’s going to beryllium a misuse of this stuff, but past there’s nary avenue of getting immoderate satisfaction. So past it’s lawlessness, due to the fact that if you person nary mode of rectifying it, what bash you do?”

Curtis was acrophobic astir the nefarious ways that radical could change the voices and images of different people, including Pope Leo XIV, who has identified AI as 1 of the challenges facing humanity. What if idiosyncratic utilized AI to property ideas to the pope that helium didn’t really support?

Inspired by the information of that possibility, she made her scathing Instagram post, tagging Zuckerberg, aft she was incapable to straight connection him.

“My sanction is Jamie Lee Curtis and I person gone done each due transmission to inquire you and your squad to instrumentality down this wholly AI fake commercialized for immoderate bulls— that I didn’t endorse,” Curtis wrote successful her station connected Monday. “... I’ve been told that if I inquire you directly, possibly you volition promote your squad to constabulary it and region it.”

The station generated much than 55,000 likes.

“I’ve done commercials for radical each my life, truthful if they tin marque a fake commercialized with me, that hurts my brand,” Curtis said successful an interview. “If my marque is authenticity, you’re co-opting my marque for nefarious gains successful the future.”

After she posted, a neighbour shared with her an email of idiosyncratic astatine Meta who could assistance her. Curtis emailed that idiosyncratic (whom she declined to name), copied her squad and attached the Instagram posts. Within an hr of sending the email, the fake AI advertisement was taken down, Curtis said.

“It worked!” Curtis wrote connected Instagram connected Monday successful each caps. “Yay internet! Shame has [its] value! Thanks each who chimed successful and helped rectify!”

Meta connected Monday confirmed the fake advertisement was taken down.

“They interruption our policies prohibiting fraud, scams and deceptive practices,” said Meta spokesperson Andy Stone successful an email.

As the exertion continues to go much wide available, determination are efforts underway astatine tech companies to place AI-generated contented and to instrumentality down worldly that violates standards.

Organizations similar actors guild SAG-AFTRA are besides advocating for much laws that code AI, including heavy fakes. Both the writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023 hinged successful portion connected demands for much protections against occupation losses from AI.

Curtis said she would person wanted the fake AI advertisement to beryllium taken down instantly and would similar to spot exertion companies, not conscionable Meta, travel up with safeguards and nonstop entree to radical policing “this wild, chaotic westbound called the internet.”

“It got the attention, but I’m besides a nationalist figure,” Curtis said. “So however does idiosyncratic who’s not a nationalist fig get immoderate satisfaction? I privation to correspond everyone. I don’t privation it to conscionable beryllium celebrities. I wanted to usage that arsenic an illustration to accidental this is wrong.”