Although that iconic (and painful) tooth extraction scene in Castaway, Tom Hanks It has nothing to do with dentists. It is better to specify it since the American actor recently appeared in an advert in which he promotes a mental health practice. In reality, if you look closely at the video, the suspicion that it is not the real Tom Hanks certainly arises, and in fact it is a deepfake created by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Tom Hanks is not a dentist, the commercial is an AI deepfake
Hanks himself reported the episode on Instagram. The actor wrote:
“Attention! There’s a video promoting some kind of teeth cleaning plan with an AI version of my image. I had nothing to do with it.”
The regulation of Artificial Intelligence technologies is one of the hottest topics in both entertainment and technology. The Hollywood screenwriters’ strike, which recently ended, had among its key points the use of technology in the creative field. The music industry is also starting to move. In England, for example, the Association of Musicians (CMM) has put forward a five-point proposal to regulate the use of AI in music.
It is clear that we are still in a wild west, a free zone where everything is more or less legal. Wanting to use a famous phrase from a Tom Hanks character: AI is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.