SKF’s advertisement featuring an AI-generated likeness of Hollywood star Greta Garbo has prompted debate, praise and ridicule while illustrating the expanding use of sophisticated AI in media. Garbo, one of Hollywood’s most famous golden-era stars, died in 1990 at 84 after retiring from films and public life in 1941. SKF said Garbo had appeared in a film more than a century ago promoting Swedish industries abroad, including SKF. The company recreated her likeness with text prompts rather than archival photographs or footage because of copyright concerns. Seedream 5 Pro from ByteDance and Google Gemini’s Nano Banana Pro were used for images, while ByteDance’s Seedance 2 and 2.5 and Kuaishou’s Kling AI were used for motion. Her voice was trained using audio from one early film, the only archival material for which SKF obtained permission, and a human actor helped match the delivery. The production was developed with the Greta Garbo estate and her family. AI advisor and researcher Henry Ajder described the practice as synthetic resurrection, while Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw criticized the advertisement. Actor George Clooney has also expressed concern about posthumous commercial uses of performers’ likenesses.