Scarlett Johansson takes a stand against antisemitism and AI misuse after deepfake video circulates online

Scarlett Johansson has condemned antisemitism and called for legislative action to protect the public from the dangers of artificial intelligence following the widespread circulation of a deepfake video featuring her and other celebrities on social media this week.

The AI-generated video showed Johansson in a T-shirt featuring a hand with a middle finger gesture, a Star of David, and Kanye West's name.

Although the video was fake, it implied that Johansson and others were responding to West’s recent antisemitic remarks and a T-shirt featuring a swastika that he had been selling on his Yeezy website before it was taken down by Shopify.

Johansson addressed the issue in a statement, saying that family and friends had informed her of the video circulating online, and that it had gained significant attention. She emphasized that, as a Jewish woman, she had zero tolerance for antisemitism or hate speech in any form.

She also expressed concern over the potential dangers of AI amplifying hate speech, highlighting that this posed a much greater threat than any individual who might be held accountable for such content.

She urged society to call out the misuse of AI, stressing that failure to do so could result in losing control over reality.

In her statement, Johansson also acknowledged the public impact of AI on her life but stated that the broader threat of AI affects everyone.

She pointed out that several progressive countries, excluding the United States, had taken responsible actions in response to the potential dangers of AI.

She expressed alarm over the U.S. government's inaction regarding legislation to protect citizens from the imminent risks posed by AI.

The deepfake video also featured AI-generated images of other celebrities, including Adam Levine, Mila Kunis, Lenny Kravitz, Mark Zuckerberg, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Stiller, Natalie Portman, and David Schwimmer. The video was set to "Hava Nagila," a popular Jewish folk song commonly played at celebratory cultural events.

Johansson has been one of the most outspoken celebrities against the unauthorized use of AI. Last year, she took legal action against OpenAI, speaking out about a synthetic voice resembling hers that was used for ChatGPT without her consent.

In her most recent statement, Johansson urged U.S. lawmakers to prioritize passing legislation to limit AI usage. She described it as a bipartisan issue that would significantly impact the future of humanity.

The AI video was created by Ori Bejerano, who describes himself as a generative AI expert on his Instagram profile. In his original post of the video, he included a notice that read, "This content was digitally created or altered with AI to seem real."

Bejerano’s Instagram caption, written in Hebrew and translated into English, stated that it was time to stop staying silent and to respond to individuals like Kanye West in the strongest way possible. He called on social media platforms to stop providing a stage for antisemitism and hate.

Though Johansson has been the only celebrity to publicly speak out against the use of AI in this context, other celebrities, such as David Schwimmer, have previously condemned West. Before West’s Super Bowl ad aired, Schwimmer took to social media, urging Elon Musk to block West from X.

In his Instagram post, Schwimmer said that while it was not possible to stop a bigot from spreading hate-filled rhetoric, it was possible to prevent him from using a megaphone on a platform with millions of followers.

Schwimmer pointed out that West had 32.7 million followers on X, which was more than twice the number of Jews in the world. Schwimmer stressed that West’s hateful speech resulted in real-life violence against Jewish people.

Later that evening, West, who now goes by Ye, deactivated his X account.

Hen Mazzig, the co-founder of the Tel Aviv Institute, an organization dedicated to fighting Jewish hate and misinformation across social media, also commented on the AI video.

Mazzig stated that while misusing AI is dangerous, unchecked antisemitic hate being spread across social media is even more harmful, as it reaches millions of people every day.