Actress Jenna Ortega has always had an interest in horror films – she has starred in series such as “Wednesday” and films such as “Scream” and “X”.
Since becoming a well-known personality as a child thanks to the Disney Channel, Ortega has experienced terror of a different kind, and it all has to do with artificial intelligence.
“I hate AI,” the upcoming “Beetlejuice” actress said on the New York Times podcast “The Interview.”
WEDNESDAY STAR JENNA ORTEGA REACTS TO BACKGROUND TO CONTROVERSIAL COMMENTS ON THE SHOW
Jenna Ortega has been an actress since childhood and says she received a sexually explicit photo of herself created by artificial intelligence when she was 14. (Cindy Ord/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
“The thing is, AI could be used for incredible things,” she said, referring to medical advances. “Did I enjoy opening a Twitter account at 14 because I was supposed to and seeing dirty edited content of myself as a child? No. It’s horrifying. It’s corrupt. It’s wrong. It’s disgusting.”
Ortega, who starred in Disney’s “Stuck in the Middle” starting in 2016, says she was exposed to explicit content from the moment she joined social media.
Jenna Ortega starred in “Stuck in the Middle” on Disney Channel for three seasons. (Adam Taylor/Disney Channel via Getty Images)
“Did I enjoy opening a Twitter account at 14 because I was supposed to and seeing dirty, edited content of myself as a child? No. It’s horrifying. It’s corrupt. It’s wrong. It’s disgusting.”
“The first (direct message) I opened myself when I was 12 was an unsolicited photo of a man’s genitals. And that was just the beginning of what was to come,” she said. Ortega says she has also been sent AI-generated child pornography of her.
“I used to have this Twitter account and I was told, ‘Oh, you have to do it, you have to build your image.’ I finally deleted it about two to three years ago because after the show (‘Wednesday’) I was bombarded with so many absurd images and photos that are so disgusting and I was already in such a confused state that I just deleted it because it was unnecessary and I didn’t need that.”
LIKE WHAT YOU READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
Jenna Ortega performs at the “Wednesday” world premiere in Hollywood. (Michael Tullberg/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
Ortega plays Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series “Wednesday,” a spin-off of the original “The Addams Family” series, which premiered in 1964. The show generated a lot of interest, and a video of Ortega dancing in her role went viral on the internet.
The actress, now 21, says she used to use Twitter (now X) to make political and personal statements.
Jenna Ortega concluded that the best way to combat the content problem was to delete her Twitter account. (Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
“And then I got annoyed with this stuff and it’s just disgusting,” she said, adding that the content she came across made her feel “bad” and “uncomfortable.”
“I deleted it because I couldn’t say anything without seeing something like that. And I don’t need to see that every day. So one day I woke up and thought, ‘Oh, I don’t need that anymore.’ So I dropped it.”
Jenna Ortega was nominated for an Emmy Award for her work in “Wednesday.” (Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for Paramount+)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Ortega says she is “learning” how to protect herself. She still has an Instagram account.
A representative for the actress did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
