The big screen adaptation of the popular stage musical Wicked hits UK cinemas on November 22. But a fan-made movie poster has conjured up an online debate about using photo editing software and AI-generated content featuring celebrities.
What's the deal with the Wicked poster?
The original stage show of Wicked opened on Broadway in 2003 and has gone on to be seen by nearly 65 million people worldwide, with an estimated global box office of $5 billion.
After a movie version was announced, many of the show's dedicated fans around the globe took to social media to share their own Photoshopped and AI-generated versions of the upcoming film's posters and artwork.
This sparked some controversy after star of the film, Cynthia Erivo, saw a Photoshopped version of a poster that showed her face covered with shadow, meaning that her eyes couldn't be seen. This fan-created version closely resembled the original Broadway poster where the character's eyes are covered.
Cynthia took to Instagram to complain about the manipulated image on the movie poster, saying "This is the wildest most offensive thing I have seen". She continued her complaint, referencing another AI-generated version of the poster which featured herself and co-star Arianna Grande fighting, calling it "awful".
Despite the fan created Broadway-themed poster being made using photo editing software, AI has taken the brunt of the blame online, with Grande telling Variety Magazine that AI can be "conflicting and troublesome sometimes".
The fan initially deleted the post of the Broadway poster, but has now reposted it stating, "This is, and always was, an innocent fan edit to pay homage to the original Broadway poster, and there鈥檚 nothing wrong with that!" The post now has more than 7 million views.
Cynthia Erivo recently spoke about her reaction to the poster saying, "I鈥檓 passionate about it and I know the fans are passionate about it and I think for me it was just like a human moment of wanting to protect little Elphaba, and it was like a human moment.鈥
The fan-made poster has sparked wider debate about the manipulation of celebrity's likenesses in images and videos.
How are celebrities being used in AI content?
Even though posting altered celebrity content online has a risk of a getting a negative reaction, it hasn't stopped people generating content that appears to use 鈥榗elebrities鈥. Commercial Film director David Blagojevi膰 recently created and shared an AI-generated advert featuring designer brand Dior. Starring in the ad are AI versions of Umbrella singer Rihanna and Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke. The ad has been created to demonstrate the potential of AI in advertising, as at just 50 seconds long, the advert is generated from over 13,000 individual images!
Neither celebs are affiliated with the video and are yet to comment on it. But the video鈥檚 creator has openly stated that it is AI generated and not a real Dior ad. Whilst it appears to be harmless fun, this could potentially cause confusion if shared out of context. Both Rihanna and Clarke have fronted campaigns for Dior in the past so there is a chance people could confuse this advert for a legitimate product. A recent campaign for J'adore Fragrance featuring Rihanna that was posted on YouTube received 2.7 million views.
Are any celebrities embracing AI technology?
Even though some celebrities are openly against AI or have had their features used in AI projects without their knowledge, there are some Hollywood stars who have promoted the technologically advanced features of artificial intelligence in their work with Meta.
In September it was announced that Dame Judi Dench, John Cena and Awkwafina are voicing Meta AI. This means that the voices of famous celebrities will be used to respond to questions asked to the chatbot and provide users with a familiar sounding answer.
However, not all celebrities are in favour of this technology, Marvel actor Scarlett Johansson recently accused OpenAI, creators of ChatGPT of using her voice in their GPT-4o update. They have since had to "pause" this feature.
Are there laws against using celebrity likenesses in AI content?
From AI generated images of Katy Perry at the Met Gala, to AI content surrounding Donald Trump鈥檚 assassination attempt, artificial intelligence has been used widely this year to create fabricated celebrity content. But is this legal? And how ethical is it to use the celebs without their say so?
There is currently no general regulation of AI in the UK, however, AI will be high on the agenda of politicians over the next few years, with academic experts identifying the ethics, governance and regulation of AI as something of growing importance for the UK Parliament.
However, one such law that has already passed in the USA is known as the ELVIS act, which is the first enacted legislation in the US that is designed to protect musicians from unauthorised use of their voices through AI technologies such as voice cloning and audio deepfakes.
How to spot AI generated content
AI content is all around us and it can be tricky to spot what is real and what is fake. When deciding if content is AI generated or not, you can have a look at the source.
Similar to the AI Dior advert, AI creators often label their work as 鈥楢I generated鈥 or state which platform they used to create it and occasionally use hashtags such as #AI or #AIgenerated.
In recent updates to Instagram and TikTok, the social media apps have added in labels which pop up at the bottom of content to state that what you may be seeing is AI generated which can help you too! So, whilst the debate about celebrities in AI may continue for a while, you should look for these signs to help spot a fake from the real deal or try an AI or real quiz to test your knowledge.
Not sure if the news you鈥檙e seeing on social media is true or false? Can you always tell if the things you see online are real or fake? Learn how to get the other side of the story with our quizzes, videos and explainers.
