Tom Hanks Warns Fans About His AI Likeness Used for Unauthorized Commercial

Tom Hanks is warning fans that his AI likeness has been used for an unauthorized commercial. In the clip, a much younger version of Hanks is seen hawking some kind of dental service. The star said on Instagram, "BEWARE!! There's a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it. – Tom Hanks" Needless to say, critics of this technology have seen this day coming for years now. 

As various businesses rush to incorporate AI as fast as possible, this kind of likeness theft is only going to become more commonplace as time goes by. (A lot of the people critical of AI art and design have heralded how the technology could be misused in exactly this manner or worse. Yet, decision-makers continue to soldier on in face of those objections to their own detriment.) 

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Complicating matters is the fact that Hanks has been such a vocal critic of the enterprise. But, is also simultaneously working with CAA to establish guidelines for AI likenesses with Metaphysic. That company has also recruited names like Anne Hathaway and Octavia Spencer to negotiate their AI rights. Many observers would think that these kinds of likeness rights would be a given. But, as with many cases, the technology makes everything so much more complicated.

Tom Hanks Addresses AI Likeness Ownership

During a previous appearance on a podcast, Hanks outlined how he saw the future around AI going. During an episode of The Adam Buxton Podcast, the star argued that he could be starring in movies more than 30 years from now. Because, if the company owns your likeness, they can do with it as they see fit. Grimly, that would also mean that actors would effectively be trapped in amber as the younger version of themselves. If the recent de-aging trend has creeped you out, then that reality would be a full-on nightmare.

"What is a bona fide possibility right now, if I wanted to, [is] I could get together and pitch a series of seven movies that would star me in them in which I would be 32 years old from now until kingdom come," Hanks argued. "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."

The star would add, "Outside of the understanding that it's been done by AI or deep fake, 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… I can tell you that there [are] discussions going on in all of the guilds, all of the agencies, and all of the legal firms in order to come up with the legal ramifications of my face and my voice and everybody else's being our intellectual property."

AI Likeness As Hollywood Battleground

One of the key arguments animating the current SAG-AFTRA strike concerns AI likenesses. Companies want to own the actors' likenesses in perpetuity. Some background actors and extras have told stories about "scanning in" for a work day. That would mean their face and likeness could appear in future movies and TV shows and there would be no way for them to receive compensation for that work after that first day where they were scanned. Needless to say, SAG-AFTRA didn't like the sound of that and they talked about it in a press release when the strike got announced.

"This 'groundbreaking' AI proposal that they gave us yesterday: they propose that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get paid for one day's pay, and their company should own that scan their image, their likeness and should be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want with no consent and no compensation," SAG Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said at a  press conference. "So if you think that's a groundbreaking proposal, I suggest you think again."

Do you think Tom Hanks will end up suing the company? Let us know down in the comments!