Why I made this
When OpenAI launched Sora 2 last September, everyone's face was suddenly up for grabs. Sora no longer exists — but the genie is out of the bottle, and dozens of competing tools have already picked up the slack. The MLK estate is fighting AI recreations of Dr. King. Zelda Williams has called AI recreations of her father, Robin Williams, 'personally disturbing'. This is our brave new world.
I spent the last year talking to studios, talent agencies, managers, actors, influencers, and athletes about this. Everyone agreed deepfakes and stolen likeness are an urgent problem. Nobody had an answer that worked. Detection platforms exist — they scan the internet for unauthorized use — but scanning the entire internet, while the underlying tech gets better and cheaper every second, is seemingly impossible.
"Just like piracy, regulation is the only solution that scales. Except this piracy is for your face, not your music."
Two things to know about the regulation we have today:
- It varies state by state. There are no federal laws protecting likeness.
- It is reactive by design. The content has to be identified before the law can do anything — and identification is the part that's getting harder by the day.
The map at dudewheresmylikeness.ai is the first public reference I've been able to find that lets anyone see their state's actual protection. Most states have nothing.
So just like Ashton Kutcher eventually found his car in the 2000 comedy classic Dude, Where's My Car?, hopefully this site helps you find your likeness. (And if you're reading this, Ashton, I apologize.)