“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” (Often attributed to Gandhi). We are now at the “fight you” stage of the invasion of Hollywood by Artificial Intelligence (AI), as demonstrated by the focus on AI during the prolonged strike by actors and writers, and by two significant incidents involving celebrated actress and star Scarlett Johansson.
In the most recent instance, a content maker in another country, Ori Bejerano, created an AI generated clip featuring synthetic versions of multiple Jewish celebrities condemning antisemitic merchandise and statements by rapper Kanye West. Although agreeing with the sentiments, Scarlett Johansson called for legislation to protect the public from deepfake videos, including deepfake videos of celebrities. She noted that other countries have responded to this particular AI threat with new legislation, noting that the United States has not been one of those countries.
Ms. Johansson is right to be unhappy with this protest video, even though she agrees with its content. She may not be right about the need for new laws to protect celebrities from such deepfake uses. This video already violated multiple existing Federal and State laws in the United States, including Copyright, Trademark, FCC regulations, Right of Publicity, and Name, Image, Likeness rights. In fact, these same protections exist in the country of origin of the video (Israel). For example, in the United States it is allowed to impersonate a celebrity in advertising, but the impersonation must be noted in the ad itself with a disclaimer. California, New York, and Tennessee have some of the strongest state laws protecting the right of publicity for celebrities, and this video would be actionable under any of those state’s laws.
This is the second time that Ms. Johansson has called for new legislation to protect actors. The first occurred in May of 2024 when OpenAI introduced a new voice assistant of its system, nicknamed “Sky”. OpenAI founder Sam Altman has acknowledged that he is a big fan of the movie “Her” in which Ms. Johansson played an AI Voice assistant that becomes the friend and eventual lover of the film’s real life protagonist. When Sky was previewed, the new voice assistant sounded like Ms. Johanson, according to some, including the actress herself, calling it “eerily similar” to her own.
The actress got a Hollywood happy ending in this incident, when Mr. Altman apologized to her and removed the voice. However, as Mr.. Altman explained, OpenAI did NOT use Johansson’s voice to create Sky Instead, it has been reported that he used another actress to provide voice samples for Sky. It is possible that multiple voices were used to generate the chatbot voice, although that has not been disclosed.
But the happy ending has a dark cloud that everyone, including the actress herself, seems to be missing. OpenAI did not need Scarlett Johansson to make a voice that was a “Johansson type”. As AI becomes more powerful and sophisticated, the need for human actors will diminish step by step. Print ads will likely be the first frontier of AI generated synthetic people, followed closely by voiceovers, influencer content (already happening in significant numbers) and eventually TV and film acting. What this means is that the time is NOW for actors to make AI deals for themselves. Their leverage decreases with every increase in the power of AI.
Some have already seen the coming storm. James Earl Jones, noted actor and the voice of Darth Vader himself, had entered into an AI deal before his recent death, and now his heirs will benefit for a very long time (perhaps forever). Similarly, sportscaster Al Michaels agreed to have an AI version of himself do updates and reports for the most recent Olympic games. More deals are sure to follow, but the amounts are likely to decrease over time.
The AI revolution in Hollywood isn’t coming, it’s already here. Scarlett Johansson’s experiences highlight the growing tension between technological innovation and individual rights, but they also underscore a deeper reality.
AI isn’t waiting for permission. While legal protections exist, actors and creatives must recognize that their bargaining power is strongest now, not later. The lesson from James Earl Jones and Al Michaels is clear, those who proactively secure their AI rights will benefit, while those who wait may find themselves replaced, their voices and likenesses owned by algorithms rather than contracts. Hollywood isn’t just fighting AI; it must learn to negotiate with it before it’s too late.
