While we all look back on the past year and consider that which is most important to us, the majority of us don’t have “figure out a way to stop people from creating synthentic pornography with my face†near the top of our list. However, most of us are not Scarlett Johansson, who, in an article for the Washington Post, discusses both the necessity, and futility, of combating extremely realistic AI-generated porn, or deepfake porn, while we still have the chance. We won’t and can’t, of course, but we should, which is, interestingly enough, exactly ScarJo’s take on the subject.
“Clearly this doesn’t affect me as much because people assume it’s not actually me in a porno, however demeaning it is,†the actress writes about discovering her image used in deepfakes. “I think it’s a useless pursuit, legally, mostly because the internet is a vast wormhole of darkness that eats itself. There are far more disturbing things on the dark web than this, sadly. I think it’s up to an individual to fight for their own right to the their image, claim damages, etc.â€
Despite Johansson’s repulsed and resigned tone, she also describes her personal, often unsuccessful attempts to push back on the unapproved use of her likeness in AI-generated porn, a goal made difficult by the various legal systems at play. “The fact is that trying to protect yourself from the internet and its depravity is basically a lost cause, for the most part,†she says. Deepfakes, warns ScarJo, are the inevitable next step in hacking, and not just for famous people.
“[N]othing can stop someone from cutting and pasting my image or anyone else’s onto a different body and making it look as eerily realistic as desired,†writes Johansson. “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.†You can read her full thoughts here. And in case Johansson seems overly anxious about technology that is, at best, in its infancy, something else to consider: an engineer already designed a robot with Scarlett Johansson’s face a few years ago. It cost $50,000 and it giggles and winks.