Tom Hanks warns followers to be wary of ‘fraudulent’ ads using his likeness through AI

Actor Tom Hanks issued a warning to his followers saying his face and likeness have been used in ads through AI without his consent.

The 68-year-old filmmaker wrote on Instagram Thursday: “There are multiple ads over the internet falsely using my name, likeness, and voice promoting miracle cures and wonder drugs.”

“These ads have been created without my consent, fraudulently and through AI,” he explained. “I have nothing to do with these posts or the products and treatments, or the spokespeople touting these cures.” 

Hanks said that he has type 2 diabetes, and for his treatment, “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,” he concluded his message.

Artificial intelligence deepfake ads using manipulated celebrity voices or likenesses have proliferated online, appearing to promote scams or false political endorsements.

Other celebrities targeted for their mass appeal in such ads include Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, Youtuber MrBeast, CBS anchor Gayle King, and Taylor Swift.

Earlier this month, Donald Trump shared a series of images on Truth Social appearing to show Taylor Swift fans wearing “Swifties for Trump” T-shirts. While two of the images Trump had shared featured a real woman who supports Trump, most of the women depicted weren’t — at least 15 of them were representations of people created by AI, NBC News previously reported.

Swift herself has been used in a slew of AI-generated images and videos that have gone viral on social platforms — from sexually suggestive ones that broke X’s platform guidelines to others that falsely identified Swift as a Trump supporter. 

In May, actor Scarlett Johansson called out OpenAI for using a voice that sounded “eerily similar” to hers in its latest GPT-4o model, despite having declined the company’s request to provide her voice. OpenAI announced that same day they’d no longer use that voice without indicating why.

Johansson’s rebuke of OpenAI was praised by SAG-AFTRA, the labor union that represents thousands of Hollywood actors.