AI-generated Greta Garbo in commercial sparks debate

"Poor Greta Garbo." This is how the British newspaper The Guardian's film critic Peter Bradshaw begins his review of a new commercial from the Swedish Kullagerfabriken (SKF), in which an AI-generated version of the Swedish Hollywood star praises the company's ball bearings.

The advertising campaign links back to the fact that as a 15-year-old Greta Garbo appeared in a campaign film for Swedish industry, where SKF was one of the companies highlighted. The AI-generated version of the actress has been created in collaboration with her surviving relatives.

Craig Reisfield, one of three relatives managing Garbo's estate, told The Guardian that he was overwhelmed by the result.

- I was very impressed: how they managed to capture and reproduce her mannerisms, clothes, facial expressions and even voice. What they were able to accomplish was astounding and powerful. And for me who knew her, it was touching, says Craig Reisfield to The Guardian.

The Guardian's critic Peter Bradshaw is less impressed. He gives the commercial a one, calls the AI-generated Garbo bizarre and compares her to a shopping TV host.

"As if to give us yet another reason to fear and loathe AI, this technology has dug up Garbo and given her a bland, mediocre form of immortality in a bizarre 99-second TV commercial," he writes, among other things.

Earlier this year, news broke that an AI-generated version of actor Val Kilmer, who died in 2025, will appear in the feature film "As deep as the grave."