AI can now generate a spokesperson-style video ad in a few days — no studio, no shoot day, no flight. The hard part isn't the model anymore. It's rights. If a recognizable person appears in your ad, you need their likeness locked down before you render a single frame, or you're shipping a lawsuit instead of a campaign.
Here's the checklist I give brands before they generate anything with a real person's face or voice.
1. Get name, image, likeness — and voice — in writing
"Likeness" isn't just a face. Cloned voices are increasingly covered by right-of-publicity law. Your agreement should name all four: name, image, likeness, and voice.
2. Bound the license on four axes
A blank-check license is a red flag for the talent and a liability for you. Scope it:
- Products — which SKUs or brands the likeness may promote
- Channels — paid social only? organic too? CTV? out-of-home?
- Term — a clear start and end date, not "perpetual"
- Territory — where the ad is allowed to run
3. Make it revocable, with approval gates
The person should be able to withdraw the rights (with notice), and they should approve the actual output — ideally frame by frame, not just a concept deck. "Trust us, it'll look fine" is how you end up with a deepfake complaint.
4. Separate likeness rights from output IP
Two different things: (a) the person's right to be depicted, and (b) who owns the finished asset. Spell out both so you can actually run — and later reuse — the creative you paid for.
5. Disclose the AI
The FTC and every major ad platform now expect AI-generated or synthetic endorsements to be labeled. Build the disclosure into the asset and the campaign, not the fine print.
6. Keep a signed, revocable paper trail
Store the signed license, the approval record, and provenance for every asset. If anyone ever asks "did this person actually agree to this?", the answer should be one click away.
Assembling this rights stack yourself — sourcing talent, negotiating bounded terms, wiring up approvals — is most of the work. If you'd rather skip it, platforms like Unreal Talent match brands to talent who license their likeness on bounded, revocable, signed terms and then produce the campaign with AI, with the talent approving the work before it ships. Either way, the rule holds: get the rights right first, generate second.
