Johnny’s Cash’s daughter, Roseanne Cash is being impersonated by AI deepfakes. Read what she had to say about it here.
In the past, major celebrities like Blake Shelton, Taylor Swift, and Tom Cruise have fallen victim to AI-generated content. It’s pretty common for fans to use AI to create false advertisements that impersonate celebrities, in an attempt to sell a product or solicit money. Recently, Johnny Cash’s daughter has been a victim of this, and it’s safe to say that she’s pretty over the whole situation. Here’s what Roseanne Cash told fans on her Instagram:
“Someone has created an AI-generated image of me, hacked into my official Facebook account, and is using that image to ask for money,” she informed users of a post that was circulating on the internet. “My Facebook page is monitored by my management to post news and tour dates. I don’t even know how to access it. If you come across this before we get it removed, please ignore. This is very disconcerting. And I don’t think I have that many wrinkles anyway.”
Cash commented again on the situation on the same post a few days later with, “Ugh. Yikes. WTF. What a world.” The daughter of the country star was rightfully frustrated at the online impersonators, and apparently, so was her management. They released a statement a few days later.
How To Know if You’re Dealing With an Impersonator
According to AI experts, there are a couple of key ways to spot impersonators on the internet. Usually, if an account appears in your direct messages demanding “urgent action,” or uses phrases like “don’t miss out” or “act now,” this likely means it’s a scam of some sort. Another telltale sign is when an account claiming to be a celebrity doesn’t have a verification checkmark or a smaller number of followers than you would think. Someone like Taylor Swift, for example, probably has millions of followers, not just a couple thousand.
Even with people taking extra precautions, recent developments in AI deepfakes have made it especially difficult for people to truly tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not. Now, AI can take an image of a celebrity or any person, and create a video of that individual saying whatever it wants them to say. This can be especially deceptive for older online users, who might not be able to tell the difference between that kind of video and an authentic message from a celebrity.
Darius Rucker, the lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish, has some experience with this. Just this summer, Rucker made a point to call out an online account that was using his name and asking his fans for money. “Don’t you have anything better to do than try to scam people. U guys are the friggin worse. U are not me and have nothing to do with me.”
Not only is AI annoying for people like Darius Rucker and Roseanne Cash to have to deal with, but it can also be dangerous when it falls into the wrong set of hands. Take this as a reminder to be aware when being active on social media and cautious when a celebrity message seems too good to be true – because, spoiler alert, it probably is.
