Hollywood stars Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchett and Joseph Gordon-Levitt joined a campaign against AI.
On the 22nd, U.S. outlet Variety reported that more than 700 artists, writers and creators, including Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchett and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, issued a statement supporting a new anti-AI campaign criticizing tech corporations that use works without permission.
According to the report, as lawmakers in the U.S. and Europe review new regulations surrounding AI training data, supporters of the 'anti-AI campaign' argue, "Stealing our work is not innovation. It is not progress. It is plainly and simply theft."
They said in the statement that fighting for copyright is important not merely to protect their own interests but to protect the entire American creative institutional sector, encompassing film, television, music, publishing and digital media.
They continued, "this institutional sector supports millions of jobs, drives economic growth and projects cultural power around the world," noting that this ecosystem is threatened because AI developers often scrape creators' works without consent, compensation or transparency.
The statement also emphasized, "America's creative community is the envy of the world," adding, "but instead of respecting and protecting this valuable asset, some large tech corporations backed by private equity and other financiers are using American creators' works to build AI platforms while ignoring the Copyright Act."
The campaign urges corporations to enter into content deals or partnerships, as some have already done, arguing that responsible licensing agreements can advance AI while respecting creators' rights.
Scarlett Johansson has previously raised her voice about the dangers of AI and for years has fought against the reproduction of her likeness. In February 2024, she issued a statement condemning a viral video that appeared to show AI versions of celebrities, including herself, protesting Kanye West's anti-Semitic posts.
She also took legal action in November 2023 against an AI app that used her name and likeness in online advertising without permission, and in May 2024 she criticized OpenAI for using her voice from the film Her as the inspiration for a GPT-4o chatbot named Sky.
Cate Blanchett has spoken about AI several times, including in a conversation with Cameron Bailey, artistic director of the Toronto International Film Festival in 2024. She said, "I think it's really important to talk about new technology. Innovation without imagination is very, very dangerous, so we need to be very careful about this."
Last year, Cate Blanchett and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were among 400 Hollywood filmmakers, writers, actors and musicians who signed an open letter to the Trump administration's Office of Science and Technology Policy urging the administration not to scale back copyright protections at the request of AI corporations.
[Photo]
[OSEN]