Taylor Swift’s affinity for Le Creuset is real: Her collection of the cookware has been featured on a Tumblr account dedicated to the pop star’s home décor, in a thorough analysis of her kitchen published by Variety and in a Netflix documentary that was highlighted by Le Creuset’s Facebook page.
What is not real: Ms. Swift’s endorsement of the company’s products, which have appeared in recent weeks in ads on Facebook and elsewhere featuring her face and voice.
The ads are among the many celebrity-focused scams made far more convincing by artificial intelligence. Within a single week in October, the actor Tom Hanks, the journalist Gayle King and the YouTube personality MrBeast all said that A.I. versions of themselves had been used, without permission, for deceptive dental plan promotions, iPhone giveaway offers and other ads.
In Ms. Swift’s case, experts said, artificial intelligence technology helped create a synthetic version of the singer’s voice, which was cobbled together with footage of her alongside clips showing Le Creuset Dutch ovens. In several ads, Ms. Swift’s cloned voice addressed “Swifties” — her fans — and said she was “thrilled” to be handing out free cookware sets. All people had to do was click on a button and answer a few questions before the end of the day.
Le Creuset said it was not involved with the singer for any consumer giveaway. The company urged shoppers to check its official online accounts before clicking on suspicious ads. Representatives of Ms. Swift, who was named Person of the Year by Time magazine in 2023, did not respond to requests for comment.