Jenna Ortega FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
Jenna Ortega's hatred of artificial intelligence began after she was sent “nasty” and explicitly doctored photos of herself as a child star.
“The reason I hate AI is because of the incredible things it could be used for,” Ortega, 21, told The New York Times in an interview published Saturday, August 24. “I think I saw the other day that artificial intelligence can detect breast cancer four years before it progresses, and that's amazing. Let's just leave it at that.”
But there is a dark side to the technology, she added: “Was I 14 and I made a Twitter account because I had to, and I loved looking at salacious edited content of myself as a child? No. It's horrifying. It's corrupting. It's wrong. It's disgusting.”
Ortega was just starting to gain fame in her early teens for roles in “Jane the Virgin” and Disney Channel's “Stuck in the Middle,” when she received her first direct mail.
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“The first direct message I ever opened on my own when I was 12 was an unsolicited photo of a man's genitals, and that was just the beginning of what was to come,” Ortega told the paper. “I had a Twitter account before, and people were like, 'Oh, you need to do this, you need to create an image for yourself.'”
Ortega said she used her social media pages to make political or personal statements, which quickly spawned NSFW messages and images in response. Receiving unsolicited or doctored photos made Ortega “feel bad,” and continues to do so.
“It made me feel uncomfortable,” she recalled. “I just couldn't say anything without seeing all that stuff, so I deleted it. I woke up one day and was like, 'Oh, I don't need this anymore,' so I deleted my account.”
Ortega said he eventually deleted the account “about two or three years ago.”
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“I was inundated after the show aired,” she said, referring to Wednesday's Netflix hit, noting that she received more doctored images based on her character. “I was already in a state of confusion, so I deleted it.”
Ortega said she has since “learned” ways to protect herself, such as setting aside time away from her phone and giving herself the space to acknowledge her feelings.
“I'm 21, so I can't be expected to be a philosopher or some all-around person. Yes, I'm a 21-year-old kid. I think it's probably important to remember that,” she said, elaborating on the pressures of living in public. “It's scary either way. … This is a time when you don't understand where you are, learning how to pay bills for the first time, dealing with taxes, being expected to be an adult. It's hard not to be scared. And that's natural.”
