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Hollywood actor Bryan Cranston has won a fight against OpenAI over a wave of deepfake AI videos of himself and other actors following the release of Sora 2.
Cranston, arguably best known for his role as Walter White in the AMC series Breaking Bad, previously raised issues with AI deepfakes using his likeness and voice, which appeared on social media.
With the launch of Sora 2 in September, a wave of AI deepfakes of prominent celebrities appeared online.
This is despite OpenAI declaring at launch that living people must give their consent or opt-in to allow Sora 2 to generate deepfakes of them, and added that it had taken “measures to block depictions of public figures” and set up “guardrails intended to ensure that your audio and image likeness are used with your consent”.
However, following this, OpenAI has reportedly said it would improve its protections against the creation of non-consensual deepfakes.
“I was deeply concerned not just for myself, but for all performers whose work and identity can be misused in this way,” Cranston said in a statement through SAG-AFTRA.
“I am grateful to OpenAI for its policy and for improving its guardrails, and hope that they and all of the companies involved in this work, respect our personal and professional right to manage replication of our voice and likeness.”
OpenAI also said it “expressed regret for these unintentional generations” and that it had “strengthened guardrails around replication of voice and likeness when individuals do not opt-in”, in a joint statement with the United Talent Agency, the US actors’ union, the Creative Artists Agency, the Association of Talent Agents and Cranston.
SAG-AFTRA president and actor Sean Astin, best known for his role as Sam in The Lord of the Rings, backed Cranston’s push against OpenAI.
“Bryan did the right thing by communicating with his union and his professional representatives to have the matter addressed,” he said.
“This particular case has a positive resolution. I’m glad that OpenAI has committed to using an opt-in protocol, where all artists have the ability to choose whether they wish to participate in the exploitation of their voice and likeness using AI.”
The US Congress is currently deliberating on the NO FAKES Act of 2025, which would protect the voice and likeness of individuals from digital generation and recreation, whether that be through AI or other technology.
“Simply put, opt-in protocols are the only way to do business, and the NO FAKES Act will make us safer,” added Astin.
OpenAI has publicly announced support for the act, with CEO Sam Altman stating that the AI giant is “deeply committed to protecting performers from the misappropriation of their voice and likeness”.
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