Alyssa Milano
Actress and Activist
Actress and digital-rights activist who warned Congress about deepfakes as early as 2019, framing non-consensual synthetic media as an assault on truth and democracy.
In her words
We live in an era where truth is being distorted, and this is another element where truth being distorted can be incredibly dangerous. The assault on truth is a threat to our democracy.
Biography
Alyssa Milano (born 1972) built her fame on Who’s the Boss?, Charmed, and a long television career, then became one of Hollywood’s most visible political activists, prominent in the #MeToo movement and in Democratic campaigning.
An early warning on deepfakes
In May 2019 — well before generative AI reached the mainstream — Milano joined Rep. Adam Schiff and SAG-AFTRA leaders on a panel about the emerging threat of deepfakes. The discussion focused on how synthetic media can be weaponised to harass and defame public figures, especially women, and on the national-security risk of fabricated video. Milano warned that the technology accelerates a broader crisis of trust.
Her concern has aged well: the harms she flagged — non-consensual sexual deepfakes, forged endorsements, and disinformation — became central to the fights later waged by performers’ unions like SAG-AFTRA. Milano’s stake is both civic and personal, as a woman in public life whose face is easy to counterfeit.
Where they stand in the war
Who backs them up
Sources & further reading
Canonical record: https://battlelines.ai/topic/alyssa-milano