Bruce Willis Didn’t Sell Rights To His Face To Russian ‘Deep Fake’ AI Company

A rep for Bruce Willis denied that the former actor sold his digital-likeness rights to the artificial intelligence company Deepcake.

On September 28, The Telegraph falsely reported that Deepcake had a deal with Willis to use his “digital twin” in upcoming films.

The company constructs AI clones of celebrities so they can choose to participate in projects without needing to appear in front of the camera.

Willis’ rep has now clarified that the former actor “has no partnership or agreement” with Deepcake.

A rep for the company explained that Willis’ digital-likeness rights cannot be sold. They noted that Willis and Deepcake worked together on 2021 ad campaigns, but emphasized that “the rights to Bruce Willis’ image [and] to his Digital Twin belong to Bruce Willis and to him only.”

In August 2021, Willis’ “deep fake” was used in a Russian commercial for mobile phone carrier MegaFon.

According to the AI company, Willis praised his likeness. “I liked the precision of my character,” he said in a quote featured on the website. “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.”

Earlier this year, Willis was diagnosed with aphasia, a condition characterized by the loss of ability to communicate.

Willis’ wife, Emma, ex-wife, Demi Moore, and daughters posted a joint statement about his health and retirement from acting back in March. “To Bruce’s amazing supporters, as a family, we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities,” they wrote. “As a result of this and with much consideration, Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him.”