An advertiser reportedly used a deepfake of Tom Hanks to promote dental services without the actor’s permission. Hanks shared a warning on Instagram on Sunday alerting his followers to the AI-generated video, which he wrote he had “nothing to do with.” Hanks has been outspoken about the challenges AI poses to the industry, and the use of digital likenesses of actors is a key concern of striking SAG-AFTRA employees.
Just last spring, Hanks said in an appearance on the Adam Buxton Podcast that AI and deepfakes present both artistic and legal challenges. “I could get hit by a bus tomorrow and that’s it,” Hanks said, “but my performances can go on forever, and so on and so forth, and barring the knowledge that it was made with AI or deepfake, that’s how it will be “Go on.” is nothing that can tell you that it’s not me.” He also spoke of a hypothetical scenario in which an entire film series could be made with an AI version of him who is “32 years old from now on until the kingdom comes.” Perhaps as confirmation of what’s to come, the offensive dental plan ad features a much younger Hanks.
Using AI to exploit celebrity legacies has already become an ethical question. Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain sparked widespread debate upon its release after it was revealed that the documentary featured AI-generated voice-overs from the popular chef and storyteller. Just this weekend, Robin Williams’ daughter Zelda Williams posted in support of SAG’s “fight against AI,” writing on Instagram that she had seen firsthand how the technology was being used to capture human likeness, “those who cannot agree”. her father.
“These replicas are, at best, a poor reflection of larger people,” Williams wrote, “but at worst, a terrible Frankenstein’s monster, cobbled together from the worst parts of everything that is this industry, rather than what it should be .” for.”
Hanks said in the April interview that the issue had been on his radar since filming “The Polar Express” in the early 2000s, which starred a CGI version of the actor. It was “the first time we made a movie with a large amount of our own data stored in a computer,” Hanks told Buxton, adding, “We saw this coming.”