Artificial intelligence has recreated Hollywood star Greta Garbo for an advertisement by Swedish ball-bearings manufacturer SKF, prompting debate over the use of AI to reproduce the likenesses of deceased public figures. Garbo, one of the most celebrated actresses of Hollywood’s golden age, died in 1990 at the age of 84. She had retired from films and public life in 1941, decades before her death. SKF said it used AI to bring the Swedish-American actress back on screen, drawing a connection to a film she appeared in more than a century ago to promote Swedish industries, including the company. In the new advertisement, an AI-generated version of Garbo appears in a champagne-coloured silk blouse. She says one of her first films was made for SKF and that she has now returned for her last. Per Nilsson, SKF’s head of communication and brand, said the recreation was not based on archival photographs or footage. Instead, the production team used text prompts to create the character, citing copyright concerns. Trade Deficit Pakistan’s trade gap widens to $10.8bn in first quarter The creators used ByteDance’s Seedream 5 Pro and Google’s Gemini Nano Banana Pro to generate images. For animation, they used ByteDance’s Seedance 2 and 2.5, alongside Kling AI, developed by Beijing-based technology company Kuaishou. The AI-generated voice, however, was trained using recordings of Garbo speaking in one of her early films. SKF said this was the only archival material supplied to the AI, and that the team had obtained permission to use it. A human actor also helped reproduce the actress’s pacing and vocal cadence. Nilsson said the company believed it had handled the project respectfully. He added that the advertisement was developed in collaboration with the Greta Garbo estate and her family. AI adviser and researcher Henry Ajder described the campaign as an example of “synthetic resurrection”. He said the use of deceased people’s likenesses in advertising was not new, but that AI had significantly expanded the technology’s capabilities. The campaign has also attracted criticism. The Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw gave the recreation a negative assessment and questioned the use of AI to bring the actress back for commercial purposes. Concerns about the technology extend beyond deceased performers. Actor George Clooney said at the Venice Film Festival last month that he would prefer not to have his likeness reproduced by AI. The debate highlights growing questions about consent, copyright and the ethical limits of recreating public figures with artificial intelligence, particularly when the people involved can no longer approve how their image or voice is used. Post navigation AI Agents Research firm says AI agents tried to hack Canadian government website
