Bruce Willis has not sold his face for deepfakes
The actor denies that he has sold rights to his face
Last week it was widely reported that Bruce Willis had sold the rights to use his face to a deepfake company called Deepcake. However, the actor himself denies the fact and his representative emphasized that there is no collaboration or agreement with the company. In addition, a representative of Deepcake stated that only Willis has rights to his face.
The original report of the deal between Willis and Deepcake was reported in the Daily Mail on 27 September and has since been picked up by the Telegraph and from there by many international media outlets.
What is true is that deepfake technology was used to create a commercial for the Russian telecommunications company Megafon last year. The commercial was created by Deepcake who worked in collaboration with Willis’ team.
What definitely happened is that he gave us his license and enough material to create his digital twin. – Deepcake
The expression that the company bought the rights to Willis’ face is untrue.
Expressions about rights are wrong. Bruce could not sell anyone any rights, they are his by default. – Deepcake
But the incident reveals how new this technology is and exposes the lack of regulation around it. Replacing actors with AI is becoming more common, with a recent example being James Earl continuing to voice Darth Vader after the actor retired.
