OpenAI’s Sora bans public‑figure deepfakes but allows 'historical figures,' which includes deceased celebrities. That creates a practical carve‑out for lifelike, voice‑matched depictions of dead stars without estate permission. It collides with posthumous publicity rights and raises who‑consents/gets‑paid questions.
— This forces courts and regulators to define whether dead celebrities count as protected likenesses and how posthumous consent and compensation should work in AI media.
Bob Grant
2026.05.08
60% relevant
The article documents yet another taxonomic tribute — the newly described Attenboroughnculus tau — connecting the practice of naming species after public figures to the broader trend of leveraging celebrity (alive or posthumous) as a means to attract attention and legitimize scientific discoveries.
Tyler Cowen
2026.04.28
70% relevant
An LM trained on 1930s text can produce speech in the style of people from that era, which directly ties to concerns that AI can emulate deceased public figures or cultural eras and exploit a 'historical use' justification to avoid consent or copyright protections.
EditorDavid
2026.04.18
90% relevant
The film uses Kilmer’s estate‑authorized archival material and an AI avatar to ‘reanimate’ a deceased star for a central role, exactly the kind of case where studios and estates treat a dead performer as a permissible creative resource — the article documents estate cooperation, compensation, and the controversy that frames this practice as a loophole.
Steve Sailer
2026.01.01
60% relevant
Sailer’s suggestion that adults could increasingly stand in for children in media via digital/performative substitutes parallels the existing concern that platforms and providers carve out posthumous or 'historical' exceptions for using likenesses; both highlight how emerging media norms create loopholes around consent and estate/rights enforcement.
EditorDavid
2025.10.05
100% relevant
OpenAI told PCMag it 'allows the generation of historical figures,' while Mashable/PCMag show Sora producing realistic videos of deceased celebrities.