Tom Hanks posts warning about ad using his AI likeness
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Actor Tom Hanks says he doesn’t have anything to do with an artificial intelligence version of himself promoting “some dental plan” in an advertisement.
“BEWARE!!” he wrote on his Instagram account. “There’s a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it.”
Alongside his warning, Hanks posted a photo of an apparent AI likeness depicting his younger self, though it is unclear whether it came from the dental plan ad, per CNN.
CNN said it could not independently verify the content of the dental plan ad that Hanks referenced.
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Forbes reported that Hanks and the daughter of late comedian Robin Williams are the latest in Hollywood to voice opposition to the use of artificial intelligence so-called deep fakes amid an ongoing actors strike that seeks to define how AI technology can be used without threatening stars’ lucrative likenesses.
Zelda Williams spoke out against creators using her father’s voice via AI “to say whatever people want.”
Williams, who voiced support for the strike, wrote on her Instagram account that she “witnessed for YEARS how many people want to train these models to create/recreate actors who cannot consent, like Dad.”
She said AI takes opportunities from working actors who “deserve a chance to create characters with their choices, to voice cartoons, to put their HUMAN effort and time into the pursuit of performance,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
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Using AI to create virtual actors has become one of Hollywood’s hottest topics as it has been one of the issues driving the ongoing strike.
AI allows much easier and cheaper use of computer-generated imagery to generate performances by actors who aren’t there. SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union, has argued that studios want to use the technology to eliminate acting jobs by scanning and creating digital likenesses to use in perpetuity without fair compensation, per CNN.
Hanks has previously spoken about the possible consequences of using AI in the acting industry, telling “The Adam Buxton Podcast” in May that movie agents are discussing writing contracts to protect actors’ likenesses as intellectual property.
Hanks also suggested on the same podcast that the technology could allow him to keep appearing in new movies after he dies.
“Anybody can now recreate themselves at any age they are by way of AI or deep fake technology … I could be hit by a bus tomorrow and that’s it, but my performances can go on and on and on,” he added, CNN reported.
While Hanks acknowledged that an AI version of himself would not be able to produce the same performances as he does now, he wondered whether audiences would really mind.
