Tom Hanks warns fans over ads using his likeness with AI (2024)

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Tom Hanks is once again warning fansthat advertisem*nts appearing to feature his likeness are not actually him — they’re the work of artificial intelligence.

The 68-year-old Oscar winner took to his Instagram on Thursday night to let his 9 million follower know that viral commercials selling 'miracle cures and wonder drugs' were created using AI technology without his permission.

'There are multiple ads on the internet falsely using my name, likeness, and voice to promote miracle cures and wonder drugs. These ads have been created without my consent, fraudulently, and through AI,' the star's message read.

'I have nothing to do with these posts, the products, the treatments, or the spokespeople touting these cures.'

Tom emphasized that he exclusively collaborates with his 'board-certified doctor' for the management of his type 2 diabetes.

'DO NOT BE FOOLED. DO NOT BE SWINDLED. DO NOT LOSE YOUR HARD-EARNED MONEY.' he concluded.

The post comes nearly a year after Tom issued a similar warning to fans about a fake dental ad that misused his likeness.

'BEWARE!! There's a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it,' Hanks wrote.

The video still above the message appears to show a young rendering of the actor in a black shirt and suit jacket.

The Hollywood star has previously commented on the use of AI in the entertainment industry.

On British comedian Adam Buxton's podcast in May 2023, he said: 'We saw this coming. We saw that there was going to be this ability to take zeros and ones inside a computer and turn it into a face and a character. Now that has only grown a billionfold since then, and we see it everywhere.

'I can tell you that there [are] discussions going on in all of the guilds, all of the agencies, and all of the legal firms to come up with the legal ramifications of my face and my voice – and everybody else's – being our intellectual property.

'Right now if I wanted to, I could get together and pitch a series of seven movies that would star me in them in which I would be 32 years old from now until kingdom come. Anybody can now recreate themselves at any age they are by way of AI or deepfake technology.'

He added: 'I could be hit by a bus tomorrow, and that's it, but performances can go on and on and on and on. And outside of the understanding that it's been done with AI or deepfake, there'll be nothing to tell you that it's not me and me alone. And it's going to have some degree of lifelike quality. That's certainly an artistic challenge, but it's also a legal one.'

Some of the films the actor has starred in have included digitally altered versions of him.

A CGI version of Hanks appears in the 2004 computer-animated Christmas film The Polar Express, and he was digitally de-aged using AI technology in scenes from 2022's A Man Called Otto.

Meanwhile, the trailer for his latest film Here dropped in June, featuring the actor and his Forrest Gump co-star Robin Wright, 58, de-aged using digital technology.

Hanks portrays Richard, a baby boomer, while Wright plays his teenage girlfriend and eventual wife, Margaret.

Using a combination of traditional makeup effects and digital de-aging technology, Hanks appears as both a teenager and an 80-year-old throughout the film’s sweeping timeline.

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