Tom Hanks condemns AI adverts made “without my consent”
Tom Hanks has shared a warning about artificial intelligence advertisements using his image to sell “miracle cures and wonder drugs.”
The rise of AI has been accompanied by the non-consensual use of deep-faked celebrities in online advertisements. Several figures have spoken out about this, including huge names like Oprah Winfrey, and now, Hanks is the latest to notify fans against the artificially created posts using his image.
The actor took to Instagram to share a “public service announcement” about the issue. Hanks stated that there had been “multiple ads over the internet falsely using my name, likeness and voice promoting miracle cures and wonder drugs.”
Hanks clarified that the ads were made “without my consent, fraudulently and through AI.”
“I have nothing to do with these posts or the products and treatments,” he continued to explain, “or the spokespeople touting these cures. I have type 2 diabetes, and I ONLY work with my board certified doctor regarding my treatment.”
Before signing off the post, Hanks emphasised his point by writing, “Do not be fooled. Do not be swindled. Do not lose your hard earned money,” in all caps.
This is the second time that Hanks has had to address the use of his image in AI-generated ads. Last October, an advert for a dental plan featured an AI version of Hanks and had to issue a similar warning on Instagram. “BEWARE!!” he wrote at the time, “There’s a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it.”
Scarlett Johansson’s AI battle
Hanks isn’t the only actor who has had issues with non-consensual artificial intelligence. Earlier in the year, Scarlett Johansson spoke out about the issue after it seemed that OpenAI had imitated her voice for a new service after she turned down the opportunity to work with them.
Sam Altman, who founded the AI company, had contacted the actor to ask her to voice the system, but Johansson declined. “Nine months later,” the actor explained in a statement, “my friends, family and the general public all noted how much the newest system named ‘Sky’ sounded like me.”
“When I heard the released demo,” she continued, “I was shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference.”
Sky was compared to Johansson’s character in the 2013 film Her, which Altman had previously revealed as his favourite movie. Speaking at Dreamforce 2023 in San Francisco last year, Altman said: “I like Her. The things Her got right—like the whole interaction models of how people use AI—that was incredibly prophetic.”
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