Tom Hanks says his likeness stolen for AI-generated ad
The Oscar-winning actor insists he has nothing to do with the promotion of a dental plan
Hollywood actor Tom Hanks has warned his online followers that his likeness had been used in an artificial intelligence-generated promotional footage without his consent.
“Beware! There’s a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it," Hanks wrote on his Instagram page on Sunday.
The star of ‘Forrest Gump’ and ‘Toy Story’ also shared a picture of his younger self, which appears to be his deep fake version from the dental plan ad.
Hanks didn’t name the company that was responsible for allegedly stealing his likeness. Several media outlets said they’d contacted the actor’s representatives but haven’t gotten a response yet.
Ironically, Hanks has been among the staunchest opponents of the increased usage of artificial intelligence in the movie industry.
The two-time Oscar winner said during his appearance on the Adam Buxton Podcast earlier this year that there’s a major discussion underway in Hollywood regarding the need for the likenesses of actors to be protected as intellectual property.
“We saw this coming. We saw that there was going to be this ability to take zeros and ones inside a computer and turn it into a face and a character. Now that has only grown a billion-fold since then, and we see it everywhere,” the 67-year-old said.
According to Hanks, it’s a problem that “anybody can now recreate themselves at any age they are by way of AI or deepfake technology.”
“I could be hit by a bus tomorrow, and that’s it, but performances can go on and on and on and on. And outside of the understanding that it’s been done with AI or deepfake, there’ll be nothing to tell you that it’s not me and me alone. And it’s going to have some degree of lifelike quality. That’s certainly an artistic challenge, but it’s also a legal one,” he explained.
Concerns that AI could displace human creators have been one of the main drivers of strikes announced by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) this May and July, respectively.
While the SAG-AFTRA is continuing its action, the WGA ended its strike last week after reaching a deal with Hollywood studios that assures better pay for the writers and introduces rules for using AI.
According to the agreement, artificial intelligence shouldn’t write or be credited for literary material. The authors are allowed to rely on it while providing writing services, but only with the consent of their production partners. Using scripts by writers to train AI has also been prohibited.
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