Oscar-winnner Tom Hanks has taken to Instagram to warn fans about an ad using an AI likeness of him to sell a dental plan. Making this the most lackluster episode of “Black Mirror” to date.
“BEWARE!! There’s a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it,” Hanks wrote over a photo from the ad. While the image does undeniably look like the actor, it seems age regressed by about a decade.
Hanks has already spoken about the use of AI in the entertainment industry. “We saw this coming,” he said on The Adam Buxton Podcast in May. “We saw that there was going to be this ability to take zeros and ones inside a computer and turn it into a face and a character. Now that has only grown a billionfold since then, and we see it everywhere.”
The actor also starred in 2004’s “The Polar Express,” which was one of the first major films to use A.I, likenesses of actors. So when he gave the interview he was fully aware of what a useful tool it could be.
“I could be hit by a bus tomorrow, and that’s it, but performances can go on and on and on and on,” said Hanks. “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.”
Now he is warning against one of A.I.’s more nefarious purposes. This situation also underscores part of why SAG-AFTRA is currently striking. Due to fears about A.I. likenesses being used not only to phase out flesh and blood performers. But also having their images made to look like they are doing whatever the person controlling the program feels like. Including trying to sell a dental plan that the performers know nothing about and do not endorse.
