The SAG-AFTRA strike may have ended, but the threat of AI replacing actors apparently hasn't.
Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks took to Instagram to warn fans that a video floating around the internet with his likeness is definitely not him, but rather an AI deepfake.
The video appears to feature Hanks doing a promotion for a dental insurance plan. But the bizarre image is definitely not Hanks—not that you'd necessarily notice unless you were really paying close attention.
In onscreen text in his Instagram post, Hanks wrote:
“BEWARE!! There’s a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it."
When you look at it closely, the image does appear to be heavily altered, especially since Hanks appears quite a bit younger than he is today. The image is likely a good 10 years old, as it turns out, and appears to be a doctored version of a 2013 photo of Hanks by Los Angeles Times photographer Jay L. Clendenin.
The timing is rather curious, as Hanks is currently in production for a film called Here, which he will be de-aged by an AI-fueled post-production too. The film sparked a conversation about AI's implication for actors during Hanks' recent appearance on "The Adam Buxton Podcast."
Of AI filmmaking tools, Hanks said:
“I could be hit by a bus tomorrow and that’s it, but performances can go on and on and on and on."
“Outside the understanding of AI and deepfake, 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. That’s certainly an artistic challenge but it’s also a legal one.”
That last part about the legal ramifications seems likely to rear its head soon regarding Hanks' supposed dental ad, since he seems to not have given consent for his likeness to be used.
On social media, Hanks' bizarre AI mishap definitely had people talking.
Hanks also discussed with Buxton the AI-related parts of the SAG-AFTRA strike, which formed a large part of the actors' union's sticking points with Hollywood producers. The union and producers are currently in negotiations.
