As some of his peers embrace generative artificial intelligence with their own likeness, Morgan Freeman is putting his imitators on notice.
The Oscar winner recently brushed off “the idea of retirement” as he shared his reaction to AI recreations of his voice and likeness online, revealing that his “lawyers have been very, very busy” with “quite a few” cases.
“I’m a little PO’d, you know,” he told The Guardian. “I’m like any other actor: don’t mimic me with falseness. I don’t appreciate it and I get paid for doing stuff like that, so if you’re gonna do it without me, you’re robbing me.”
Although his frequent collaborator Michael Caine recently partnered with ElevenLabs to “preserve and share” his voice in their ‘Iconic Voice Marketplace‘ along with several other living and dead stars, Freeman plans to keep using his talents for the time being.
“Sometimes the idea of retirement would float past me,” he admitted. “But as soon as my agent says there’s a job or somebody wants you or they’ve made an offer, the whole thing just boils back into where it was yesterday: how much you’re going to pay, where we’re gonna be?”
The Now You See Me: Now You Don’t actor also chimed in on the discourse around AI creation Tilly Norwood, one of 40 avatars being rolled out from AI talent studio Xicoia.
“Nobody likes her because she’s not real and that takes the part of a real person, so it’s not going to work out very well in the movies or in television,” said Freeman. “The union’s job is to keep actors acting, so there’s going to be that conflict.”