Jenna Ortega learned firsthand that artificial intelligence can be used for both good and evil.
In a new interview with The New York Times, the 21-year-old actress opened up about an unpleasant online experience she had as a teenager, explaining how it shaped her views on AI and prompted her to shut down her Twitter account, now known as X.
When asked what she thinks about AI, the 21-year-old didn't mince words.
“I hate AI,” she said. “The truth is, it could be used for amazing things. I think I saw the other day that artificial intelligence can detect breast cancer four years before it progresses. That's amazing. Let's just leave it at that.”
The “Beetlejuice” star explained that he has seen firsthand how people use AI to harm and intimidate others.
“Did I, at 14, create a Twitter account because I had to and enjoy looking at salacious edited content of myself as a child? No. It's horrifying. It's corrupting. It's wrong,” she said.
“When you were a kid, did you see AI-generated images of yourself? Like pornographic images?” the interviewer asked.
“Yes, of course,” Ortega replied.
The actress then explained that the first direct message she opened was “an unsolicited photo of a man's genitals” when she was 12. She said this was “just the beginning of what was to come.”
Like many actors, the young star started social media accounts to gain more followers as she progressed in her career. After a few years, she closed them down because she was “already in a mess” and started being inundated with “ridiculous images and photos.”
“It was uncomfortable,” Ortega said, reflecting on how the experience made her feel.
“It made me feel bad,” she continued. “Anyway, that's why I deleted it, because I couldn't say anything without seeing stuff like that. And then I woke up one day and was like, oh, I don't need this anymore. So I quit.”
Ortega acknowledged that she is still learning how to protect herself, and said she tries to avoid using her cell phone “as much as possible.”
“I'm always walking. If my parents are wondering what I do, when I'm not at work or in a meeting, I'm outside walking laps. I'm in a garden somewhere, lying down in a field, taking a nap,” she said.
Ortega then compared himself to his mother, saying they both “act out of fear sometimes.”
“I try not to. I actually think I've been pretty relaxed over the last few years because I've given up. Not in a sad way, but in the most liberating way possible,” she said. “I'm really trying not to criticize myself or kill myself over things in the news or things I see that are totally insignificant in the grand scheme of the world. I should be having so much fun right now. So much fun! But I'm not. I should be. And I try to remind myself of that.”
