Associated Incidents
American television personality Gayle King has warned her followers about the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) after she became the victim of a manipulated video.
A video of King has circulated on Instagram in which she appeared to promote various weight loss products from a company known as Artipet. The sponsored post appeared on the feed of many of the "CBS Mornings'" host's one million followers.
"Ladies, honestly, I did not expect my weight loss to spark so many questions. My direct messages on Instagram are overflowing," King can be heard saying in the video. "Instead of replying to each one individually, I decided to make a post about it. Follow the link right now and learn more about my secret."
While the video appeared legitimate to many, some eagle-eyed Instagram users noticed that some of King's words did not match up with her lips and her voice seemed to lack proper emotion.
The video eventually came to the attention of King, who explained the video was manipulating an authentic video of her to promote a slew of weight loss services falsely.
"People keep sending me this video and asking about this product and I have NOTHING to do with this company," she wrote in an Instagram post.
King revealed that the fabricated content used an August 31 promotional video for her radio show to mislead viewers.
"I've never heard of this product or used it! Please don't be fooled by these AI videos," she added.
Representatives for King have requested that the fake video be taken down several times.
She is not the first celebrity to fall victim to AI.
A day earlier, actor Tom Hanks warned that someone used the technology to create a video of him touting the benefits of a dental plan.
The video showed the 67-year-old Oscar winner at a younger age dressed in a black shirt and matching suit jacket.
"BEWARE!! There's a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it," Hanks told his 9.5 million Instagram followers.
Hanks has previously expressed concern about the dangers of AI, telling podcast host Adam Buxton that he could pitch movies that could show him at any age "from now until kingdom come."
"I could be hit by a bus tomorrow, and that's it, but performances can go on and on and on and on. And outside of the understanding that it's been done with AI or deepfake, there'll be nothing to tell you that it's not me," Hanks said. "That's certainly an artistic challenge, but it's also a legal one."
On Sunday, YouTube personality MrBeast slammed a TikTok video that seemed to show him offering 2$ iPhones to fortunate viewers, calling it a "deepfake scam ad."
"If you're watching this video, you're one of the 10,000 lucky people who will get an iPhone 15 Pro for just $2," the fake advertisement told viewers. "I'm MrBeast and I'm doing the world's largest iPhone 15 giveaway. Click the link below to claim yours now."
MrBeast, who has 188 million YouTube followers, questioned how AI technology could be used and spread on social media.
"Are social media platforms ready to handle the rise of AI deepfakes? This is a serious problem," he said.