In today’s world becoming an actress is hard, but stealing someone’s face is easier than ever. Artificial Intelligence’s latest programming allows them to steal the words, voices, and faces of successful actresses and singers, which is not only unethical, but also blatant plagiarism.
The problem started in early 2025, being brought to attention by content creators whose voices were stolen to create AI chat bots. Creators on YouTube and TikTok were vocal about how scary and strange it felt hearing their voices on AI-generated websites.
The stolen voices were also used to influence others. During the election last year, people created AI-generated voiceovers of notable celebrities, saying they supported one candidate or the other.
Actor Morgan Freeman spoke out about his voice being used on OpenAI, and Scarlett Johansson notably challenged the site, which featured a bot with a voice uncannily similar to her own. During this time, SAG-AFTRA went on a video game strike that ended in passing an Interactive Media Agreement, stating that the voices of actors may only be used with their consent.
Not only is it wrong, it’s also unethical. Since AI bots don’t have a consciousness, or definite idea of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, it’s up to those who program them to differentiate the two. Recently, Eline Van der Velden, creator of the first AI “actress” has been under fire. The ethics and talent of the bot were being questioned by many prominent Hollywood figures.
Van de Velden is the founder of the UK-based Particle6, a company specializing in AI “productions”. Recently, she released a bot called Tilly Norwood, who many prominent actors were quick to criticize.
Celebrities such as Emily Blunt and Whoopi Goldberg immediately released statements, voicing their concern about the bot. Some actresses were concerned about how young the AI looked, while others targeted Van de Velden’s creation, because despite her best efforts Tilly cannot act nearly as well as a human can.
Van de Velden quickly fired back, saying Tilly was created to be a ‘conversation starter’, and that people in the UK saw no issue with Tilly’s existence, or lack thereof. Admittedly, Van de Velden’s creation has brought some good. Tilly has begun some much-needed conversations about AI’s place in society.
Another AI bot thriving off the success of others is Xania Monet, an AI “singer” whose song began climbing Billboard charts after being released a few months ago. The artificially generated music video for her song “How Was I Supposed to Know?” has gotten over two million views on YouTube.
AI bots are not only stealing without consequence, but they are also the main culprits in the slow death of artistry and creativity. As we watch more artificially generated art collect accolades and esteem, we can only wonder how long it will be before we can’t tell the difference between real and fake.
