Actors Face Regret and Ethical Dilemmas After Selling Likenesses to AI Companies

Actors are Regretting Licensing Their Likeness to AI Companies

Actors are earning good money by licensing their likenesses to AI companies -- but some are now regretting it. A growing number of performers have been shocked to discover their likeness being used in ways they find embarrassing, damaging, or even harmful. In many cases, actors who didn't fully grasp the long-term implications are now speaking out of licensing their image to AI. A new report by AFP highlights the rising concerns among those who fear they may have lost control of their likeness. British actor and model Connor Yeates was sleeping on a friend's sofa when he signed a three-year deal with AI video firm Synthesia for €4,600 (about US$5,230). At the time, it felt like a lifeline. "It seemed like a good opportunity," he tells The Guardian. But Yeates was later stunned to find his face being used in videos promoting Ibrahim Traore, the president of Burkina Faso, who came to power in a 2022 coup. Synthesia's head of corporate affairs, Alexandru Voica, acknowledges the lapse to AFP: "Three years ago, a few videos slipped our content moderation... [involving] exaggerated claims or propaganda." Yeates is far from alone. South Korean actor Simon Lee also licensed his image to an AI marketing company -- only to later see his digital double in bizarre and misleading videos online. His likeness appeared as a doctor promoting questionable health remedies on TikTok and Instagram, such as lemon balm tea for weight loss or ice baths for acne. "If it was a nice advertisement, it would've been fine to me. But obviously, it is such a scam," Lee said, adding that his contract prevented him from having the content removed. These cases highlight the murky consequences of a growing trend: actors selling the rights to their face and voice to AI firms, often for a quick paycheck -- only to lose control of how their image is used. AI avatars are increasingly used in ads because they're faster and cheaper than filming real people. Actors typically spend a few hours in front of a green screen and teleprompter, performing a range of emotions so the AI can later generate videos in different languages and tones. To create these videos, Synthesia's customers simply choose a face, select a language and tone -- serious or playful for example -- and insert a script. The process is quick and affordable: the basic version is free, while the pro version costs just a few hundred dollars. Licensing contracts typically pay a few thousand dollars, but many are packed with legal jargon and broad usage rights. Alyssa Malchiodi, a lawyer specializing in business contracts, warns that many of these licensing agreements include "broad, perpetual and irrevocable" terms. Contracts often give companies unrestricted global rights, with no way for actors to withdraw them. "The clients I've worked with didn't fully understand what they were agreeing to at the time," Malchiodi says. "One major red flag is the use of broad, perpetual, and irrevocable language that gives the company full ownership or unrestricted rights to use a creator's voice, image, and likeness across any medium." She adds: "Technology is evolving faster than courts or legislatures can respond."

They sold their likeness to AI platforms -- and regretted it

South Korean actor Simon Lee was stunned when he saw his likeness -- at times as a gynecologist or a surgeon -- being used to promote questionable health cures on TikTok and Instagram. He is one of scores of people who have licensed their image to AI marketing companies, and then ended up with the unpleasant surprise of seeing themselves featured in deepfakes, dubious adverts or even political propaganda. "If it was a nice advertisement, it would've been fine to me. But obviously it is such a scam," he told AFP, adding that the terms of his contract prevented him from getting the videos removed. The result was that he was left with his digital clone advocating for lemon balm tea to lose weight or ice baths to fight acne. AI technology -- cheaper than filming actors, but more realistic than an entirely AI-generated avatar -- allows firms to build catalogues of digital models to appear in videos that mostly promote products or services. Solene Vasseur, a digital communications and AI consultant, said this new form of advertising was fast and cheap compared to a real-life production. Using avatars is also a way for brands to "show that they're comfortable with the new tools." The method is quick and straightforward: half a day's shooting, a green screen and a teleprompter. The actor has to display different emotions, which will allow the artificial intelligence to make the avatar say all sorts of things, in an infinite number of languages. "The performance in terms of the expressiveness of a real human -- voice, facial movements, body language... is still superior to anything AI can generate right now," said Alexandru Voica, head of corporate affairs at Synthesia, a UK-based industry leader. To make a video, the platform's customers just have to select a face, a language, a tone -- such as serious or playful -- and insert the script. The whole process comes at a modest price: the ultra-basic version is free, while the pro version costs a few hundred euros. "Am I crossing a line?" The contracts offer up to a few thousand euros, depending on duration and how well a person is known. But they can be filled with legal jargon and sometimes abusive clauses, and in their rush to make quick cash, some people have found it hard to fully understand what they were signing up for. Such was the case of Adam Coy, a 29-year-old actor and director based in New York, selling his image was a financial decision. In October 2024, he signed over the rights to his face and voice to MCM for $1,000 (885 euros), granting the company the use of his avatar for one year. "If I was more successful, I feel like I would maybe be able to have the ethical conversation with myself," he said. "Is this right, or am I crossing a line by doing this?" A few months later, his partner's mother came across videos in which his digital clone claimed to come from the future and announced disasters to come. None of this is forbidden by the contract, which only prohibits use for pornographic purposes, or in connection with alcohol and tobacco. Coy described the experience of watching his avatar as "surreal" and said he initially thought he would be an animated avatar. British actor and model Connor Yeates, who signed a three-year contract with Synthesia for 4,600 euros, also encountered an unpleasant surprise in 2022. At the time, he was sleeping on a friend's sofa, he told British newspaper The Guardian in 2024. "I don't have rich parents and needed the money," he said. This seemed like a "good opportunity." But he then discovered that his image had been used to promote Ibrahim Traore, the president of Burkina Faso who took power in a coup in 2022. "Three years ago, a few videos slipped our content moderation partly because there was a gap in our enforcement for factually accurate but polarizing type of content or videos with exaggerated claims or propaganda, for example," said Voica, head of corporate affairs at Synthesia. The firm said it has introduced new procedures but other platforms have since appeared, some applying much less stringent rules. An AFP journalist was able to make an avatar from one of these platforms say outrageous things. "The clients I've worked with didn't fully understand what they were agreeing to at the time," said Alyssa Malchiodi, a lawyer who specializes in business law. "One major red flag is the use of broad, perpetual and irrevocable language that gives the company full ownership or unrestricted rights to use a creator's voice, image and likeness across any medium," she said. Contracts often contain clauses considered abusive, Malchiodi said, such as worldwide, unlimited, irrevocable exploitation, with no right of withdrawal. "Technology is evolving faster than courts or legislatures can respond," the lawyer said. "These are not invented faces," she said, calling for more caution.

Actors Horrified as They Learn What Selling Their Faces as AI Actually Means

From peddling snake oil on social media, to backing foreign coups. Some actors who were desperate to make a quick buck are now learning of the horrifying consequences of selling their likenesses to companies that use them in AI videos, Agence France-Presse reports. South Korean actor Simon Lee, for example, found that his image was being used to promote "questionable health cures" on TikTok and Instagram. And the terms of his contract meant there was nothing he could do to get the videos removed. "If it was a nice advertisement, it would've been fine to me," Lee told AFP. "But obviously it is such a scam." In 2022, British actor and model Connor Yeates signed a three-year deal with a company called Synthesia for $5,240 because, at the time, he was sleeping on a friend's couch and "needed the money." Later, Yeates found out that his face was used in a video to promote Ibrahim Traore, the president of Burkina Faso who took power in a coup d'état in 2022 -- a usage that was a blatant violation of Synthesia's terms of service. "Three years ago, a few videos slipped our content moderation partly because there was a gap in our enforcement for factually accurate but polarizing type content or videos with exaggerated claims or propaganda, for example," Alexandru Voica, head of corporate affairs at Synthesia, told AFP. These stories encapsulate AI technology's potential to perpetuate misinformation, and in particular the invasiveness of AI-enabled deepfakes. With very little effort, anyone willing to pay money to use these services -- which are sometimes free -- can create a convincing enough video of someone saying something, so long as there's enough footage of that person out there. Public figures like Taylor Swift and Scarlett Johansson understand this better than anyone, having had to condemn creeps that deepfaked them to promote political messages. Recently, the voice actor for Aloy in the "Horizon" video games said she was unnerved by an AI imitation of her performance as the character. Background actors, too, have voiced concerns about how they had their bodies fully digitized for indefinite use by studios. They're also emblematic of AI's inroads into the acting industry. Actors have fought tooth and nail for protections against generative AI, but they're fairly limited and don't apply to the Wild West of non-union jobs. That opens the door for AI firms to capitalize on actors desperate for work, trapping them into dubious contracts. The temptation is strengthened by the fact that it's usually pretty easy work, requiring just several hours' worth of shooting in front of a green screen, getting fed lines by a teleprompter. "The clients I've worked with didn't fully understand what they were agreeing to at the time," Alyssa Malchiodi, a lawyer who specializes in business law, told AFP. "One major red flag is the use of broad, perpetual and irrevocable language that gives the company full ownership or unrestricted rights to use a creator's voice, image and likeness across any medium." Synthesia, the platform that let an actor's visage be used in a propaganda piece during the leadup to a coup, recently announced that it'd be starting a talent experience program that will allow actors to be involved in decision-making processes, Ars Technica notes. Protections are nice, but they can only change so much if not widely adopted. Otherwise, firms and clients might simply choose not to hire actors that aren't willing to fully sign their autonomy over.

They sold their likeness to AI platforms and regretted it

Actors like Simon Lee are discovering their AI-generated avatars being misused in misleading adverts and propaganda, after licensing their image to AI marketing firms. Despite earning modest fees, many signed contracts with unclear or abusive clauses, leaving them powerless. Legal experts warn that technology is outpacing regulation, risking exploitation.South Korean actor Simon Lee was stunned when he saw his likeness -- at times as a gynaecologist or a surgeon -- being used to promote questionable health cures on TikTok and Instagram. He is one of scores of people who have licensed their image to AI marketing companies, and then ended up with the unpleasant surprise of seeing themselves feature in deepfakes, dubious adverts or even political propaganda. "If it was a nice advertisement, it would've been fine to me. But obviously it is such a scam," he told AFP, adding that the terms of his contract prevented him from getting the videos removed. The result was that he was left him with his digital clone advocating for lemon balm tea to lose weight or ice baths to fight acne. AI technology -- cheaper than filming actors, but more realistic than an entirely AI-generated avatar -- allows firms to build catalogues of digital models to appear in videos that mostly promote products or services. Solene Vasseur, a digital communications and AI consultant, said this new form of advertising was fast and cheap compared to a real-life production. Using avatars is also a way for brands to "show that they're comfortable with the new tools". The method is quick and straightforward: half a day's shooting, a green screen and a teleprompter. The actor has to display different emotions, which will allow the artificial intelligence to make the avatar say all sorts of things, in an infinite number of languages. "The performance in terms of the expressiveness of a real human -- voice, facial movements, body language... is still superior to anything AI can generate right now," said Alexandru Voica, head of corporate affairs at Synthesia, a UK-based industry leader. To make a video, the platform's customers just have to select a face, a language, a tone -- such as serious or playful -- and insert the script. The whole process comes at a modest price: the ultra-basic version is free, while the pro version costs a few hundred euros. 'Am I crossing a line?' The contracts offer up to a few thousand euros, depending on duration and how well a person is known. But they can be filled with legal jargon and sometimes abusive clauses, and in their rush to make quick cash, some people have found it hard to fully understand what they were signing up for. Such was the case of Adam Coy, a 29-year-old actor and director based in New York, selling his image was a financial decision. In October 2024, he signed over the rights to his face and voice to MCM for $1,000 (885 euros), granting the company the use of his avatar for one year. "If I was more successful, I feel like I would maybe be able to have the ethical conversation with myself," he said. "Is this right, or am I crossing a line by doing this?" A few months later, his partner's mother came across videos in which his digital clone claimed to come from the future and announced disasters to come. None of this is forbidden by the contract, which only prohibits use for pornographic purposes, or in connection with alcohol and tobacco. Coy described the experience of watching his avatar as "surreal" and said he initially thought he would be an animated avatar. But "it's decent money for little work", he added. Propaganda British actor and model Connor Yeates, who signed a three-year contract with Synthesia for 4,600 euros, also encountered an unpleasant surprise in 2022. At the time, he was sleeping on a friend's sofa, he told British newspaper The Guardian in 2024. "I don't have rich parents and needed the money," he said. This seemed like a "good opportunity". But he then discovered that his image had been used to promote Ibrahim Traore, the president of Burkina Faso who took power in a coup in 2022. "Three years ago, a few videos slipped our content moderation partly because there was a gap in our enforcement for factually accurate but polarizing type content or videos with exaggerated claims or propaganda, for example." said Voica, head of corporate affairs at Synthesia. The firm said it has introduced new procedures but other platforms have since appeared, some applying much less stringent rules. An AFP journalist was able to make an avatar from one of these platforms say outrageous things. "The clients I've worked with didn't fully understand what they were agreeing to at the time," said Alyssa Malchiodi, a lawyer who specialises in business law. "One major red flag is the use of broad, perpetual and irrevocable language that gives the company full ownership or unrestricted rights to use a creator's voice, image and likeness across any medium," she said. Contracts often contain clauses considered abusive, Malchiodi said, such as worldwide, unlimited, irrevocable exploitation, with no right of withdrawal. "Technology is evolving faster than courts or legislatures can respond," the lawyer said. "These are not invented faces," she said, calling for more caution.

The actors regret having sold their image rights to artificial intelligence companies - Softonic

The rise of artificial intelligence in the media has led actors to sell their images, raising concerns about ethics and long-term repercussions The growing interest of companies in artificial intelligence (AI) has generated an intense debate about its applications in various sectors, including media and entertainment. Recently, there has been a notable increase in the use of AI-generated presenters on television, which has led to several actors selling their image and voice rights to technology companies, such as Synthesia, usually in exchange for quick financial compensation. However, actors like Adam Coy and Simon Lee have expressed their regret after making hasty decisions without considering the long-term implications. Their avatars have been used to promote dubious content, ranging from scams to conspiracy theories, which has compromised their professional reputation. Although these collaborations may seem appealing at first, many artists simply do not understand the permanence of the agreements they sign. Synthesia, one of the leading companies in the creation of AI avatars, has closed multimillion-dollar deals with other companies, and although it claims to have strict policies to prevent abuse, harmful content sometimes escapes its control. For example, actor Connor Yeates has found his image associated with political propaganda that goes against the platform's terms of use. The clauses designed to serve as safeguards in these contracts have not ensured that harmful videos are removed once published. Some actors, justifying their decisions by the money received, argue that this approach can benefit them financially in the short term. However, many in the industry warn that these decisions can negatively affect their future careers. The landscape of AI in entertainment, while promising innovation, raises ethical concerns that are still far from being resolved.