Broadcaster Uses Tom Hanks Deepfake For Unlicensed Ads

An advertiser reportedly used Tom Hanks' deepfake (photo: Instagram @tomhanks)

JAKARTA - An advertiser reportedly used Tom Hanks' deepfake to promote dental treatment without the actor's permission. Hanks shared a warning on Instagram on Sunday October 1 to his followers about the video produced by the artificial intelligence, which he wrote that he was "unrelated."

Hanks has denounced the challenges faced by artificial intelligence in the entertainment industry, and the use of actor digital similarities is one of the main points that SAG-AFTRA workers are concerned about on strike.

In the spring of last year, Hanks said in his performance on The Adam Buxton Podcast that artificial intelligence and deepfake pose challenges both artisticly and legally.

"I could be hit by a bus tomorrow and that's it," Hanks said, "But my performances can continue and continue and continue and continue, and beyond the understanding that this is done with artificial intelligence or deepfakes, no one will tell you that it wasn't me."

He also talked about a hypothetical scenario in which an entire series of films could be made using a version of his artificial intelligence that is "32 years ahead forever." Maybe as confirmation of what's to come, advertisements for the wrong dental plan feature a much younger Hanks.

The use of artificial intelligence to utilize celebrity heritage has become an ethical issue. Roadrunner: About Anthony Bourdain's film raises widespread debate after his release when it was revealed that the documentary contained the voice of AI made by the famous chef and teller.

This weekend, Robin Williams' daughter, Zelda Williams, posted her support for "SAG's struggle against AI," writing on Instagram that she had seen how this technology was used to capture the resemblance of people "who couldn't give permission," like her father.

"This recreation, basically, is a bad clone of big people," Williams wrote, "But it's basically a terrible monster robot, arranged from the worst pieces of everything in the industry, instead of what should be represented."

Hanks also said in an interview in April that this issue has been in his monitoring since filming the film The Polar Express in the early 2000s, starring the actor's CGI version. "This is the first time we have done a film that has a large amount of our data locked in a computer," Hanks told Buxton, adding, "We saw this coming."