Celebrities face Deepfake scandals as AI redefines online fame and identity

The intersection of fame and technology has just reached a breaking point. In a cultural moment where virality is commonplace, a new wave of AI-generated content blurs the line between reality, imagination and exploitation, and Hollywood is taking notice. The tipping point came this month when SAG-AFTRA, the union representing players in the entertainment industry, formally condemned Tilly Norwood, an entirely AI-generated “actress” whose rise has shaken both creators and executives. The union warned that the digital character was trained on the likenesses, performances and voices of real actors, all without consent or compensation. The statement marks a new level of urgency in Hollywood’s growing battle over artificial intelligence. For platforms like GlamAI, which claim to prioritize transparency and creative consent, the outcry has highlighted how quickly AI is rewriting the rules of artistic ownership.

The controversy could not have come at a more symbolic time. As the debate over the ethics of AI reaches a boiling point, Kim Kardashian shared an AI-generated photo of herself standing next to her late father, Robert Kardashian. Within hours, the image dominated TikTok feeds, Reddit threads and entertainment headlines.

Fans have described it as ranging from hauntingly beautiful to deeply disturbing. The photo racked up tens of millions of views in less than a day, forcing a collective conversation about grief, authenticity, and how technology crosses the emotional line.

Suddenly, AI wasn’t just powering fan filters or edits, but it was shaping the way celebrities cried, connected, and controlled their stories.

Kim’s viral post sent shockwaves through pop culture. In the days that followed, photos of stars like Zendaya And Timothée Chalamet began circulating widely online. Meanwhile, TikTok’s AI Elevator trend flooded For You pages, allowing users to place themselves in hyper-realistic scenes alongside their favorite stars, a fusion of fandom and fantasy that made participation personal.

What once required movie studios, photographers and PR machines now happens on a smartphone in seconds. “AI imaging has become a new visual language,” Paul Shaburov, founder of GlamAI, the California-based startup whose app recently rose to Apple’s top five for photo and video downloads, told The Blast. “What used to require a studio or brand campaign now happens instantly on a phone.”

This accessibility is precisely what makes this new frontier both electrifying and alarming.

Scroll through social media and you’ll find entire accounts devoted to hyper-realistic AI renderings of celebrities. A post, shared by an Instagram page dedicated to AI modifications, shows what appears to be an actress Sarah Hyland in a Hooters uniform, except it’s not her at all. The image, generated entirely by artificial intelligence, fooled some viewers into believing it was real, with comments ranging from admiration to disbelief.

These types of posts accumulate thousands of likes in a matter of hours, often blurring the line between creative fan art and digital imitation.

For fans and creators, AI has become a creative playground, a way to remix nostalgia, reinvent pop icons, and explore fantasy worlds that almost feel real. But for public figures, it has opened the door to a flood of identity manipulation that is spreading faster than fact-checkers or digital rights teams can keep up.

Deepfake scandals involving celebrities have already sparked calls for stronger protections, while several big names have reportedly hired dedicated teams to track and report unauthorized AI replicas of themselves on social media.

The implications extend far beyond individual posts, as they redefine what celebrity looks like in the algorithmic age.