Bruce Willis may lose his right to voice from Russian deepfake company

 Bruce Willis may lose his right to voice from Russian deepfake company

Bruce Willis has previously said that he has not sold the rights to his face to any deepfake company.

Fame may protect big names but small-time actors are shrouded in blurred legality now that AI can replicate their voices.


Bruce Willis hasn't sold the rights to his face.

After a series of widespread reports his agent told the press that the actor had entered into a unique agreement with a deepfake company to replicate his likeness through artificial intelligence in upcoming films. However, there is widespread uncertainty about using famous faces and voices, and the legalities become muddled as more studios choose to use AI to replicate celebrity similarities (and sounds) in films and commercials.


The confusion about the Die Hard star seems to have come from this television ad from last year:

The actor has denied entering into any long-standing contract with Russian outfit Deepcake, which it says makes digital replicas of celebrities. Deepak confirmed to me that there was a misunderstanding. A spokesperson for the firm said, “Deepcake has no rights over the digital twin created by the company.”

Additionally, the disturbance probably occurred because Willis has been diagnosed with aphasia, a disorder that affects speech. In March, he had announced his retirement from acting. AI could theoretically fix this by training itself on old recordings of your voice and synthesizing it into new material. It has been done for other lead actors but there are no plans to do so for Willis.

According to Equity UK, a union of British actors and voice artists, artists say they are confused by contracts to do AI-linked voice work. Can a player as big as Willis lose power not only to his face but also to his voice - even if illness has taken him away?

The issue at heart is that technically, faces and voices can be replicated by AI forever. "Contract provisions [for AI work] often request that artists sign off on their rights," says Equity's policy officer Liam Budd. In April, the union launched a campaign to "strengthen the rights of artists amid the massive growth of AI across the entertainment industry," Buddha said, adding that 93% of voice actors saw AI as a threat to their employment. .

To make matters more challenging, artists are often asked to sign non-disclosure agreements for AI work and the terms of their contracts seem overly confusing. Budd said that voice actors are offered a lump sum payment for their labor, even when their voices will be consistently used elsewhere.

Most of the growth in AI work has come from video games and TV commercials. For example, in India, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's voice and face were repeated over 40,000 times in an advertisement for Cadbury, allowing him to refer to a range of local businesses.

It's a tempting prospect for big-name actors and studios: AI could help spread their likeness and "brand" far and wide, potentially allowing them to work more when they don't have time. it happens.

“We have cases where well-known voice actors and big motivational speakers want to scale themselves to different areas,” says Alex Serdyuk, chief executive of Respeech, a Ukrainian AI firm that recently partnered with Mark Hamill and James Earl Jones. voice has been reduced. Star Wars franchise release. Respeaker technology can also convert a person's speech into different languages. “High-profile personalities are developing their own brands and IP, and by using technology, they can increase the audience they cover,” Serdiuk said.

This is problematic as well as beneficial. Well-established players in the industry can leverage technology to further develop their brands, while smaller, lesser-known artists are at risk of unfair exploitation. Currently, there is no clear law protecting people from unauthorized, AI synthesis of a person's face or voice or performance.

According to Budd, when Equity brought it up to the British government, it was reported that the UK's upcoming online security law would be the legal framework they needed. But that's a naveté of an upcoming law that aims to protect people from online harassment, not just protect their intellectual property in the field of entertainment.

One possible solution: Equity says it plans to reach out to AI firms to try to establish collective bargaining agreements and better terms and conditions for artists doing AI work. The union would not comment on which companies it was talking to, and did not mention any names, such as Respeech. For its part, the Ukrainian company said it was talking to unions and was ready to hold talks with industry groups about a framework for payments.

Such agreements would add an unusual, new dynamism to the established relationship between actors, unions and production studios that has led to industrial action in the past. How the unclear payment model unfolds for artists may depend on union outreach and the response from AI firms. But perhaps those discussions will take time to gain traction, and the rights of the cast of Bruce Willis and Shah Rukh Khan to voice actors without voice actors will only become vocal.