From transforming a selfie into an action figure, to transforming another person into a famous actor, there’s really no end to the innovation going on right now in our industry.
Deepfakes first came on the scene as a potential issue for politicians and prominent people. After all, they could basically be made to say anything and, upon first glance, it was difficult to tell whether or not that was the actual person speaking.
Now, deepfakes are yet another market opportunity, especially for the aforementioned cohort and, in particular, celebrities. If you can make money selling your likeness to advertise products, why not just cut to the chase and sell your likeness in general?
It was reported that actor Bruce Willis did just that when he signed on with firm Deepcake, a US-based tech company specializing in this field. This has since been clarified with the detail that the use of the actor’s likeness was for a 2021 ad and that any future use moving forward will be up to the actor himself. Nonetheless, he is featured quite prominently on Deepcake’s website.
Here are Bruce Willis’ own words on the company’s website:
“I liked the precision of my character. It's a great opportunity for me to go back in time. The neural network was trained on content of “Die Hard” and “Fifth Element”, so my character is similar to the images of that time.
With the advent of the modern technology, I could communicate, work and participate in filming, even being on another continent. It's a brand new and interesting experience for me, and I grateful to our team.”
No matter what’s going on, the story does raise an interesting point; namely, should actors sell their likeness for use in future advertising or perhaps even films? It also makes one wonder at the possibilities for future media if an actor’s likeness is more important than the presence of the actor herself.
What are your thoughts on deep fakes? A promising technology or a scary preview of tomorrow’s tech troubles? Let us know in the comments.
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[Deepcake]
