Jenna Ortega speaks out about ‘corrupt’ AI-generated images

Jenna Ortega deleted her Twitter after highly disturbing AI-created content of herself as a child was posted online.

Speaking to The New York Times podcast, The Interview, the Scream star said: “I hate AI. [It] could be used for incredible things. I saw something the other day where they were saying that artificial intelligence was able to detect breast cancer four years before it progressed. That’s beautiful. Let’s keep it to that.

“Did I like being 14 and making a Twitter, now known as X, account because I was supposed to, and seeing dirty edited content of me as a child? No. It’s terrifying. It’s corrupt, it’s wrong.”

Asked if the AI-generated images were pornographic, she answered: “Yes, of course… The first [direct message] I ever opened, when I was 12, was an unsolicited photo of a man’s genitals.”

The actress, who appears with Sabrina Carpenter on the chart-topping pop star’s new “Taste” music video, added: “And that was just the beginning. I used to have that Twitter account and I was told: ‘Oh, you got to do it, you got to build your image’.

“I ended up deleting it two, three years ago because [of] the influx after [her show, Wednesday] had come out. Absurd images and photos, and I already was in a confused state. It was disgusting, and it made me feel bad. It made me feel uncomfortable…One day I woke up and thought, ‘Oh, I don’t need this any more’.”

A representative of X (formerly Twitter) could not be reached for a comment on the matter.

Ortega is just one of a number of celebrities having to face the dark side of fame.

Rising pop star Chappell Roan took to TikTok to urge her fans to stop “harassing” her in public before releasing a statement on 24 August to remind people that “women don’t owe you s***”.

Billie Eilish has had fans showing up at her family’s home, while Taylor Swift has an alarming history of being stalked, including one man who allegedly broke into her New York apartment, and had to cancel gigs in Austria in the face of alleged Islamic State terror plots.

Meanwhile, Ariana Grande recently had to tell fans to leave her ex-husband Dalton Gomez alone following the release of her latest album, Eternal Sunshine. 

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