--- title: "Companies Are Deepfaking Celebs Into Ads Without Their Permission" description: "The likes of Elon Musk, Tom Cruise, and Leonardo DiCaprio are among some of the biggest names on the planet who are getting deepfaked into ads." date: "2022-10-26" modified: "2022-10-26" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/companies-are-deepfaking-celebs-into-ads-without-their-permission" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "ai" - "deepfake" - "deepfakes" - "the digest" --- # Companies Are Deepfaking Celebs Into Ads Without Their Permission ![The likes of Elon Musk, Tom Cruise, and Leonardo DiCaprio are among some of the biggest names on the planet who are getting deepfaked into ads.]() *\Image: reAlpha/YouTube\* ## Deepening Issue As if there weren't enough of them going around already, deepfakes are coming to advertising too, flaunting ghastly imitations of your favorite celebrities — with or without their permission. Earlier this fall, Bruce Willis's representatives [shut down reports]() that the actor [signed a deal to get deepfaked]() into future productions. A year before, a Russian telecom company [deepfaked the action star into a TV commercial]() (with permission), and the Pandora's box has been open ever since. Now, the [*Wall Street Journal* reports]() that agencies are injecting simulacra of A-listers including Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Elon Musk into ads. The most worrying part, according to the *WSJ*? None of the last three celebrities ever agreed to appear. ## Lagging Lawmaking Sure, in most cases the uses of the deepfakes are clearly meant to be *just* fake enough to be funny, but the implications of the technology's use to impersonate celebs, authorized or not, is no laughing matter. "We're having a hard enough time with fake information," Ari Lightman, a professor of digital media and marketing at Carnegie Mellon University, told the *WSJ*. "Now we have deepfakes, which look ever more convincing." And US law hasn't really caught up either, especially in regards to using deepfakes in commercials. While some of the companies reportedly consulted with lawyers and/or included disclaimers, it doesn't change the fact that they're taking advantage of an extremely gray legal area. Generally speaking, the benefits of the attention gained from using the deepfakes — be it negative or positive — outweigh the risk of getting sued by such massive celebrities. "A lot of these companies purposefully get as close to the line as possible in order to almost troll the celebrities they're targeting," explained Aaron Moss, chair of the litigation department at the law firm Greenberg Glusker, to the *WSJ*. Even if a celebrity wanted to go after these companies, the ubiquity and ease of using deepfakes could make it impossible to target them all. ## Unrivaled Production What's worse is that experts believe that old contracts written before deepfake technology took off could allow advertisers to use their existing footage of a celebrity to create deepfakes of them. And the temptation to do that is extremely strong. "In six months, we made 10 completely different creatives and concepts with digital Bruce Willis working with different directors," said a spokesperson for Deepcake, the firm responsible for deepfaking Willis into the telecom ad, to *WSJ*. "It is difficult to imagine such a production with a real actor." **More on deepfakes:** *[This Keanu Reeves Deepfake Is Giving Us Shivers]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()