‘Very Chaotic’: Congress ‘Trying to Understand the Best Way’ to Deal With AI
By Movieguide® Contributor
Congress is working on the tricky situation of regulating AI, but representatives warn it’s slow going.
“It’s been very chaotic. We’re just trying to stop stupid stuff,” Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California told Variety. “We’re still gathering data and trying to understand what is the best way to solve the problems that AI has introduced. I think we will likely pass some sort of law to provide rules of the road for the future. At this point, it is hard to know what that is going to look like.”
While AI is starting to enter into many different areas of daily life, most are concerned with the impact it is having on movies and television.
“Our interest is in making sure individual creators are being paid for the ingestion of their content into AI platforms, for which they are not currently remunerated despite the fact that their souls are being stolen,” James Silverberg, the CEO of the American Society for Collective Rights Licensing, explained.
Another major concern of actors is the possibility of “deep fakes,” which are AI-generated content that makes use of a real person’s face or voice. This issue became a major topic after Scarlett Johansson accused ChatGPT of using a deep fake version of her voice for their newest voice assistant.
“I was shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. [Sam] Altman [OpenAI’s CEO] would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference,” Johansson said in a statement about the situation.
She claimed Altman approached her about officially being the voice of the ChatGPT assistant, but she declined his offer. Now, her legal team is demanding OpenAI disclose how they developed the voice software.
“We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity’s distinctive voice — Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice.” OpenAI said in response to Johansson’s claims. “To protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice talents.”
Movieguide® previously reported on another AI battle Johansson took on:
AVENGERS star Scarlett Johansson is pursuing legal action against an AI app that used her likeness without permission in an ad.
“We do not take these things likely. Per our usual course of action in these circumstances, we will deal will it with all legal remedies that we will have,” Johansson’s lawyer, Kevin Yorn, told Variety.
The ad came to Johansson’s attention when it was posted on X. The endorsement began with an old clip of the actress on the set of BLACK WIDOW saying, “What’s up guys? It’s Scarlett, and I want you to come with me…” before the AI generation begins as a graphic covers the actress’ mouth.
The ad continued with an AI-generated voice that mimics Johansson, along with AI-generated images of her. “It’s not limited to avatars only,” the AI-generated endorsement continued. “You can also create images with texts and even your AI videos. I think you shouldn’t miss it.”
The ad, created for Lisa AI: 90’s Yearbook & Avatar, noted at the end of the video, “Images produced by Lisa AI. It has nothing to do with this person.”
As AI tools have become more mainstream, the widespread creation of deepfake images and videos such as this has been a constant worry. Already, California has created laws against the use of a person’s likeness without their permission, providing an avenue for legal action.
