Bruce Willis denies selling likeness to deepfake company
The former actor and action star Bruce Willis has denied reports that he had licensed the use of his face and likeness to a deepfake company.
The rebuttal from Willis comes after reports that the actor had sold his image to the deepfake company Deepcake, with the actor even appearing to give a statement on their website. “I liked the precision of my character,” he appeared to state, adding, “It’s a great opportunity for me to go back in time. The neural network was trained on content of Die Hard and Fifth Element, so my character is similar to the images of that time”.
Talking about the experience of apparent collaboration, he added, “With the advent of the modern technology, I could communicate, work and participate in filming, even being on another continent. It’s a brand new and interesting experience for me, and I am grateful to our team”.
Now, a representative for the actor has told the BBC that Willis has made “no partnership or agreement” with Deepcake; the company has also verified this claim. Willis and the company did indeed team up in 2021 for an advert for Russian telecom Megafon, though, as Deepcake shared with the BBC, the actor “gave us his consent (and a lot of materials) to make his Digital Twin” but that the actor had not sold his likeness for other projects.
“The wording about rights is wrong,” the company further expressed, with Willis’ representative confirming, “Please know that Bruce has no partnership or agreement with this Deepcake company”.
The news comes months after Willis revealed that he had been diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder that affects his ability to speak and recall information. Shortly after this revelation, Willis announced his retirement from acting.
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