Taylor Swift has endorsed Kamala Harris for president — will it matter?

Doug Mirell, litigation partner, was quoted in NPR discussing the rise of fake AI celebrity endorsements.

Excerpts:

"There have been manipulated celebrity photographs since the beginning of photography, certainly, but the rampant use of AI and its ubiquity are what is new," said Douglas Mirell, an entertainment lawyer with the Los Angeles firm Greenberg Glusker who works to curb unauthorized uses of AI. "It is so pervasive and so potentially manipulable, that people can't tell what's true and what's not true. So AI really does create a much more serious threat to the fundamental touchstone of democracy, which is truth-telling."

Mirell said the impact of AI-generated images, on election results remains to be seen.

"When we're talking about people like Taylor Swift or Beyoncé, their endorsements would be potentially very important," he said. "And that's why I think everyone really needs to be concerned about this issue."

Resources

• NPR