Keira Knightley reveals plans to copyright her face as she’s concerned about rise of AI

Her remarks come amid the writers and actors’ strikes in the US, fuelled by the use of artificial intelligence to replace human actors
Keira Knightley has revealed plans to copyright her face
Getty Images
Tina Campbell13 September 2023
The Weekender

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Keira Knightley has revealed plans to copyright her face as she is concerned about the rise in artificial intelligence (AI) and wants take action to protect her own likeness.

It comes amid the current writers and actors’ strikes in America, which have been fuelled by the studio’s use of AI to replace human actors.

“At the moment for actresses, the concern is about the voice, and they’re trying to protect the voice-over industry,” the 38-year-old Pirates of the Carribean star told the Daily Telegraph.

“I don’t know where that’s at but I know that’s the negotiation. But I imagine the next step will be to copyright my face.

“AI has the potential to be catastrophic and I hope governments come in and regulate it,” the mum-of-two, who is married to Klaxons musician James Righton, added.

There are currently writers and actors’ strikes in America, which have been fuelled by the studio’s use of AI to replace human actors
Getty Images

Studios including Amazon, Netflix and Apple are proposing to use AI to replace humans with digital scans where an actor’s likeness can be superimposed over a stunt double.

Hollywood actors and writers are currently united in their first “double strike” in more than 60 years and have vowed that they will protect every worker in the industry from being replaced by AI.

It comes as celebrities have increasingly become targets of deepfake technology, which can use their voices and likeness for everything from advertisements to fake songs and pornography.

US actor Bruce Willis, who was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia last year, was deepfaked into “appearing” in an ad where he was tied to a bomb on the back of a yacht, declaring “Mississippi” in a Russian accent.

Following this, the question of ‘Who owns Bruce Willis’ became a concern for SAG-AFTRA, and they have since been fighting against contracts that exploited their member’s naivety about AI.

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