Tom Hanks warned fans of false ads using his name, likeness and voice to promote “wonder drugs,” claiming the companies were using artifical intelligence to scam consumers.
Hanks shared the “public service announcement” on Thursday on Instagram.
“There are multiple ads over the internet falsely using my name, likeness and voice promoting miracle cures and wonder drugs,” Hanks wrote in the statement. “These ads have been created without my consent, fraudulently and through AI.”
‘BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE’ STAR SAYS AI CAN’T ‘DUPLICATE’ HOLLYWOOD DIRECTOR TIM BURTON’S VISION
APP USERS CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE INSTAGRAM POST
“I have nothing to do with these posts or the productions and treatments, or the spokespeople touting these cures,” he continued. “I have type 2 diabetes, and I ONLY work with my board certified doctor regarding my treatment. DO NOT BE FOOLED. DO NOT BE SWINDLED. DO NOT LOSE YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY.”
Hanks previously warned fans about a dental company scam in October, telling his fans to “beware.”
“There’s a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it,” he wrote on Instagram at the time.
LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
Country music star Lainey Wilson also warned fans about companies using celebrity likenesses to promote products through AI while testifying to Congress.
According to Wilson, her likeness has been used to promote weight-loss gummies. As an artist with young fans, she insisted that she would never promote that product.
“I’ve got a lot of little kids watching me, a lot of little girls and a lot of little boys,” she explained to the congressional committee in February. “And I want to encourage them to feel comfortable in their own skin and love themselves. And I would never in a million years ever do anything like that.”
“But at the end of the day, you know, people are like, ‘I got to see it to believe it.’ Well, they’re seeing it, and they’re believing it.”
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
Wilson also claimed AI is being used to generate content of musician’s voices in “questionable settings” or to sing lyrics “they would never write.”
“I use my music and my voice to tell stories, to connect to my fans and to help them to connect to each other. My art is uniquely and literally me, my name, my likeness, my voice,” the “Heart Like a Truck” singer said. “I do not have to tell you how much of a gut punch it is to have your name, your likeness or your voice ripped from you and used in ways that you could never imagine or would never allow. It is wrong, plain and simple.”
“There aren’t many things that we can control in life, but making decisions about the use of our own selves, our own unique qualities, that should be one,” she added. “I am excited about a lot of ways that artificial intelligence can be used to help people, but I’m nervous about how it can be used to take personal rights.”
