Tom Brady is threatening legal action over an AI-generated stand up special featuring his likeness.
The comedians behind the creation—Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen—revealed the potential legal action on an episode of the ‘Dudesy’ podcast. The duo received a cease-and-desist from Brady’s lawyer over the special.
“Immediately remove the aforementioned use of Mr. Brady’s name, image, voice, persona, and likeness, and any other unauthorized uses of Mr. Brady’s name, image, voice, persona, and likeness from any websites, internet platforms, social media profiles, or printed materials that Dudesy or its affiliates control,” the letter instructed them. The first ten minutes of the comedy special were available on YouTube, but they have since been taken down.
Still, once AI-generated content is created and uploaded, it’s like playing whack-a-mole to get it taken down. UMG has gone directly to the source by advising digital service providers (DSPs) like Spotify and Apple Music not to allow these music tracks to appear in playlists or for public listening at all.
AI-generated mashups between singers have been going viral on TikTok, where ghostwriter has created at least two hit collabs. The first features Drake and The Weeknd singing a track called “Heart On My Sleeve,” while the second features Bad Bunny and Rihanna in “Por Que.”
The comedians behind the Dudesy podcast trained their AI on Tom Brady using hours of Tom Brady footage and stand-up comedy footage. The result is a simulated hour-long stand-up comedy special as if it was written and performed by Tom Brady. This is a common feature of AI-created content—mash-up a famous celeb with something they’re not known for doing.
So far, UMG has taken the harshest stance against generative-AI creations ending up on platforms where people can consume them. While in the other direction, platforms like Beatly Music are springing up specifically to house this kind of content without it being taken down.