celebrities

What changed

Beginning around October 2025, a campaign reportedly used AI-generated videos and cloned voices of well-known public figures and celebrities such as Bill Gates, Sanjay Gupta, Anderson Cooper, Bruce Willis, and others to market honey-based supplements as treatments for Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Consumers reportedly said modest purchases sometimes led to continuing charges or unwanted shipments, while cancellation and refund requests were difficult to resolve.

Timeline

1. 2 July 2026Purported Deepfakes of Public Figures and Celebrities Reportedly Used to Market Honey-Based Supplements as Alzheimer's Treatments
   Incident82%

   • Facebook page introduced by Anderson Cooper talking about an Alzheimer treatment of Dr. Sanjay Gupta, 1089143https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/lookupscam/1089143
   • Deepfake scam targets Alzheimer's patients with false promise of honey-based curehttps://www.nbcchicago.com/consumer/deepfake-scam-targets-alzheimers-patients-with-false-promises-of-honey-based-cure/3955606/
   • AI Incident Database - Incident 1564https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/1564/

   Facebook page introduced by Anderson Cooper talking about an Alzheimer treatment of Dr. Sanjay Gupta, 1089143Deepfake scam targets Alzheimer's patients with false promise of honey-based cureAI Incident Database - Incident 1564
2. 22 May 2026New Jersey Man Cornelius Shannon Allegedly Published Hundreds of AI-Generated Deepfake Pornography Albums in TAKE IT DOWN Act Case
   Incident82%

   • Two men charged with creating AI-generated porn under new law targeting ‘deepfakes’https://apnews.com/article/deepfake-ai-take-it-down-2e0c0ab83fe967d1db1f45af90a03fc2
   • Two Individuals Arrested for Publishing AI Deepfake Pornography In Violation Of TAKE IT DOWN Acthttps://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/two-individuals-arrested-publishing-ai-deepfake-pornography-violation-take-it-down-act
   • AI Incident Database - Incident 1500https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/1500/

   Two men charged with creating AI-generated porn under new law targeting ‘deepfakes’Two Individuals Arrested for Publishing AI Deepfake Pornography In Violation Of TAKE IT DOWN ActAI Incident Database - Incident 1500
3. 22 May 2026Texas Man Arturo Hernandez Allegedly Published AI-Generated Deepfake Pornography Depicting Women in TAKE IT DOWN Act Case
   Incident82%

   • Two men charged with creating AI-generated porn under new law targeting ‘deepfakes’https://apnews.com/article/deepfake-ai-take-it-down-2e0c0ab83fe967d1db1f45af90a03fc2
   • Two Individuals Arrested for Publishing AI Deepfake Pornography In Violation Of TAKE IT DOWN Acthttps://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/two-individuals-arrested-publishing-ai-deepfake-pornography-violation-take-it-down-act
   • AI Incident Database - Incident 1501https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/1501/

   Two men charged with creating AI-generated porn under new law targeting ‘deepfakes’Two Individuals Arrested for Publishing AI Deepfake Pornography In Violation Of TAKE IT DOWN ActAI Incident Database - Incident 1501
4. 3 May 2026Global Cybercrime Network Storm-2139 Allegedly Exploits AI to Generate Deepfake Content
   Incident82%

   • Disrupting a global cybercrime network abusing generative AIhttps://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2025/02/27/disrupting-cybercrime-abusing-gen-ai/
   • Microsoft IDs developers behind alleged generative AI hacking-for-hire schemehttps://cyberscoop.com/microsoft-generative-ai-azure-hacking-for-hire-amended-complaint/
   • AI Incident Database - Incident 955https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/955/

   Disrupting a global cybercrime network abusing generative AIMicrosoft IDs developers behind alleged generative AI hacking-for-hire schemeAI Incident Database - Incident 955
5. 13 Apr 2024Leonardo AI's Platform Alleged to Have Been Used for Creating Nonconsensual Celebrity Deepfakes
   Incident78%

   • Generative AI startup Leonardo is being used to make deepfake celebrity pornhttps://www.startupdaily.net/topic/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning/generative-ai-startup-leonardo-is-being-used-to-make-deepfake-celebrity-porn/
   • AI Incident Database - Incident 661https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/661/

   Generative AI startup Leonardo is being used to make deepfake celebrity pornAI Incident Database - Incident 661
6. 21 Mar 2024Investigation Reports Unauthorized Deepfake Pornography Harms Thousands of Celebrities
   Incident78%

   • Nearly 4,000 celebrities found to be victims of deepfake pornographyhttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/21/celebrities-victims-of-deepfake-pornography
   • AI Incident Database - Incident 660https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/660/

   Nearly 4,000 celebrities found to be victims of deepfake pornographyAI Incident Database - Incident 660
7. 21 Nov 2023Deepfaked Advertisements Using the Likenesses of Celebrities Such as Tom Hanks and Gayle King Without Their Consent
   Incident82%

   • Tom Hanks Warns of Dental Ad Using A.I. Version of Himhttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/technology/tom-hanks-ai-dental-video.html
   • Celebrity deepfakes are having a momenthttps://www.morningbrew.com/daily/stories/2023/10/03/celebrity-deepfakes-are-having-a-moment
   • AI Incident Database - Incident 606https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/606/

   Tom Hanks Warns of Dental Ad Using A.I. Version of HimCelebrity deepfakes are having a momentAI Incident Database - Incident 606
8. 10 Apr 2023Celebrities' Deepfake Voices Abused with Malicious Intent
   Incident82%

   • Deepfake audio: Emma Watson's case is proof voice-cloning is a problem set to risehttps://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a42728762/emma-watson-deepfake/
   • Emma Watson reads Mein Kampf on 4Chan in deepfake audio trickhttps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ai-4chan-emma-watson-mein-kampf-elevenlabs-9wghsmt9c
   • AI Incident Database - Incident 508https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/508/

   Deepfake audio: Emma Watson's case is proof voice-cloning is a problem set to riseEmma Watson reads Mein Kampf on 4Chan in deepfake audio trickAI Incident Database - Incident 508

PSF mapping