The debates continue around the new Disney live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, with this part of the saga involving a person on Twitter using AI to generate a whitewashed version of the new Ariel, who is played by a Black actress in the new film.
The now deleted Twitter thread can be seen in this commentary on it below.
\u201cGotta be honest, I figured our dystopian future would include horrors like deepfake revenge porn and AI bot catfishing, but I was not expecting "using AI to whitewash diverse movie characters."\n\nI regret the error and I promise to be even more pessimistic going forward.\u201d— Max Kennerly (@Max Kennerly) 1663065254
People, obviously, were outraged by this new use of AI.
\u201cIt\u2019s the phrase \u201cfixed\u201d that does it for me. There is nothing in real life or on film the GORGEOUS @HalleBailey needs \u201cfixed\u201d.\n\nAnd the original racist\u2019s Twitter account is rightfully suspended. But what about @TenGazillionIQ?! \n\nThat\u2019s the one who used Ai in this hateful way.\u201d— yvette nicole brown (@yvette nicole brown) 1663081897
Many people fixated on the original tweet's sentence: "Note for Twitter: This is purely for educational purposes, please do not misinterpret this in a racist way."
\u201c@YNB @HalleBailey @TenGazillionIQ If you have to tell people your post isn't racist, it's definitely racist.\u201d— yvette nicole brown (@yvette nicole brown) 1663081897
\u201c@YNB @HalleBailey @TenGazillionIQ The disclaimer "it's purely for educational purposes." Really? Lies.\u201d— yvette nicole brown (@yvette nicole brown) 1663081897
\u201c@YNB @HalleBailey @TenGazillionIQ "Don't take this racist thing I did in a racist way" \ud83d\ude44\u201d— yvette nicole brown (@yvette nicole brown) 1663081897
\u201c@MaxKennerly This isn\u2019t racist only educational. \ud83d\udc40\n\nOk ma\u2019am, ok. You have educated us about your potential racism. Thank you\u201d— Max Kennerly (@Max Kennerly) 1663065254
Others commented on how the original tweets reflected a disturbing trend: the use of "woke" to denote, specifically, Black people.
\u201c@MaxKennerly It's so weird how "woke" just means Black. If a movie shows Black people simply existing, they get accused of wokeness without expressing any political sentiment whatsoever.\n\nWhich makes it even weirder when someone like DeSantis declares that he is "fighting against the woke."\u201d— Max Kennerly (@Max Kennerly) 1663065254
\u201cNever heard someone enunciate the hard "r" in "woke" quite so clearly\u201d— Butter Goblin Mode (@Butter Goblin Mode) 1663072719
This continues last week's discussion of the The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series.
\u201cThe Rings of Power discourse really nailing down that white people use \u2018woke\u2019 when they\u2019re not yet comfortable saying a certain slur.\u201d— David Lo Pun-ch Nazis (@David Lo Pun-ch Nazis) 1662587723
Finally, there were those who are gleefully awaiting the response of Disney's notoriously hair-trigger legal department.
\u201c@YNB @HalleBailey @TenGazillionIQ Wait till that guys is sued for intellectual property infringement\u201d— yvette nicole brown (@yvette nicole brown) 1663081897
\u201c@YNB @HalleBailey @TenGazillionIQ *cue Disney suing them. \ud83e\udd23\u201d— yvette nicole brown (@yvette nicole brown) 1663081897
As a palate cleanser, we offer the following video.
\u201chttps://t.co/zR9QLNuSkG\u201d— Lai\ud83d\udc94 (@Lai\ud83d\udc94) 1662935462
As the original tweet has been taken down, we can guess that Disney's lawyers are on the case, but this whole thing does not inspire confidence in the future (mis)use of AI.
