AI has been skyrocketing across the world; it’s morphing faces, clothes, bodies, and backgrounds, adding people, animals, and figures, and putting words into people’s mouths. However, is it getting too far when people are using AI to create fake scenarios and their own versions of people?
In December of 2024, Melanie Martinez a singer, posted to her Instagram story this message: “Hi I see a lot of AI-made photos of my
actual face and I’m going to have to ask y’all to stop doing that and kindly delete them. If you have a problem with me saying this please put yourself in my shoes and imagine hundreds of fake images of yourself that look way too real for comfort. At first I didn’t mind with the creature face because it’s not my actual face but it’s really unsettling to see y’all even have the desire to put me in what you want to see me in and look the way you want me to look. I don’t exist for you or anyone to do that, I’m just a human who is gonna look the way I want and for nobody else but myself… Thank you.”
Ultimately, Martinez asked for peace and understanding. These people are recreating with AI, a creature costume, that Martinez dresses up in and she created and drew, representing the concept of immortality from her eyes. Recreating a character, as she describes it, does not bother Martinez, as it doesn’t depict her as a person. When taking pictures of Martinez daily and morphing her into scenarios or in different outfits, they’re role-playing, generating her as a frictional character, and at some point, it crosses the line, as she expresses.
These are fans; they’re ultimately not trying to hurt Martinez or disrespect her. Maybe it comes from excitement? But is turning someone into a different person and playing dress up with them transgress? Could this affect someone and their mental health? Could this start a pattern of inappropriate behavior from people online over using AI and creating photos that become unnatural or invasive?
The question arises: Is this an issue with AI, or the immaturity of the people using it? There could be a restriction on who can use it and what it’s going to be used for. Now this could be age restrictions, using it only for a certain job, not being able to use people’s faces without consent, maybe with an email sent to them, or having to pay to use the app.
Would people be willing to do this, and that’s what controls society? Not the ability but the desire to set a safer world without having to explain your discomfort.
