In 2022, Bruce Willis retired from movies and public life after being diagnosed with aphasia (a language disorder that affects a person’s ability to communicate) and the condition progressed to frontotemporal dementia in February 2023. This news sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry and beyond. However, it was widely reported that Bruce had sold the rights of his face to a US-based deepfake company called Deepcake. Witnessing this, Joe Rogan had quite a blunt opinion about it and made it known to the public and his fans.

Recently on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the host and the guests were discussing the advancements in AI. That’s when Joe talked about Bruce’s future in Hollywood. He said, “Bruce Willis has a neurological condition, I forget what it is called. So Bruce Willis sold his likeliness for the purpose of AI….sorry likeness for the purpose of AI. In his position, I mean, he is incapable of making money anymore.”

Willis had appeared in advertisements through Deepcake, which managed to create a ‘digital twin’ of himself that can appear in new content, despite the actual Willis who had retired from acting. Joe further quoted Willis and said, ‘I liked the precision of my character. It’s a great opportunity for me to go back in time. The neural network was trained on content of Die Hard and Fifth Element, so my character is similar to the images of that time.’

This led reports to claim that Willis had sold the rights to his likeness. He happened to be one of the first in Hollywood to sell his face away to AI. Joe added, “So it’s young Bruce Willis doing ads. That seems like what they are saying.”

It was later reported that Deepcake did not own Willis’s likeness. According to Deepcake, the ads were created in partnership with Willis’s representatives at CAA, but Willis’s likeness could not be sold to the company, so Willis would still have to approve future uses of his digital twin.

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However, this has not been the sole instance he has spoken about the actor in this light.

Rogan on “struggling” Bruce Willis

Earlier in 2023 on episode #1980 of ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ starring Dr. Michio Kaku, a professor and pioneer in the realm of theoretical physics discussed Willis’ battle against dementia. The 55-year-old UFC commentator revealed he was saddened by witnessing the state of the Die Hard actor.

It was reported back then that along with selling his face, the American actor had sold the rights to his voice too. That meant the deep fake company could legally replicate his voice and use it for commercial purposes or of any other kind. Joe stated, “There are some videos of him now, where his wife had him at a birthday party. You know, he’s struggling… Umm, so he signed off all of his likeness, and his voice, so they can make any kind of commercial they want with him, with AI.”

Dr. Michio talked about the concept of digital immortality possible only via AI technology. He outlined a future where individuals can be ‘digitized’ and their digital personas preserved indefinitely. He said, “We’re all going to be digitized. And we will live forever! A digital immortality is gonna be part of our future so that our great great grandkids will be able to push a button, and have a conversation with their great great great grandfather.”

What do you think of the advancement in AI? Let us know in the comments below.

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