Tom Hanks Warns Fans About AI-Generated Deepfake Ad Featuring Him
Tom Hanks has warned that an advert that appears to be fronted by him is actually an artificial intelligence (AI) generated deepfake video.
On Saturday, Hanks denied any involvement with a dental company that uses a deepfaked image of him in its promotional video.
Hanks warned fans that the ad that was circulating online was an AI-generated video of him. The video uses a digital version of the Oscar-winning actor’s face and voice to promote dental insurance.
“Beware! There’s a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me,” Hanks writes in a post on Instagram for his 9.5 million followers. “I have nothing to do with it”.
In the Instagram post, Hanks shared a still image from the video, showing what looked like a younger version of the Oscar-winning actor, dressed in a black shirt and suit jacket.
‘We Saw This Coming’
Hanks has previously spoken about the unstoppable rise of AI and the “artistic challenge” that the technology poses the entertainment industry.
“We saw this coming, we saw there would be this ability to take 0s and 1s inside a computer and turn it into a face and character,” Hanks told The Adam Buxton Podcast in May.
“That has only grown a billion-fold since then and we see it everywhere.”
Hanks, who has appeared in iconic films like Forrest Gump and Cast Away shared that he could continue acting after death with the help of artificial intelligence.
The actor said it was a “bonafide possibility” that he could pitch seven movies starring himself as a 32-year-old using AI and deepfake technology.
“I could get hit by a bus tomorrow and that’s it, but my performances could go on and on and on and on,” the actor said.
“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. It’s going to have some degree of lifelike quality and that is certainly an artistic challenge but it’s also legal.”
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
