Pryor Cashman Partners Dyan Finguerra-DuCharme and Simon Pulman and Special Counsel Laure Sawaya co-wrote an article for Law360 looking at how AI technology creating fake advertising content, or “Deepfakes,” can have implications for public figures and their relationships with brands.

In “Revisiting Morals Clauses In The Age Of Deepfakes,” they explain how a deepfake can be created and the immediate impacts:

Software such as Midjourney and Sora can allow users to create relatively believable images and videos using text prompts, and this has already led to a proliferation of unauthorized content using the name, likeness and other identifying characteristics of high-profile talent. At its worst, this content may paint individuals in an unsavory light, jeopardizing their contractual relationships and causing lasting reputational damage.

This technology can cause reputation management issues for public figures who have morals clauses in their contracts with brands:

This use of deepfakes creates a potential complication as to what constitutes — or, rather, should constitute — "conduct" to ensure that the purpose of the morals clause is met. For the first time, it is possible for bad actors to create extremely authentic-seeming photographs, videos, and audio or voice recordings in a matter of seconds using AI — and to easily disseminate misleading or misrepresentative content without the talent having actually engaged in any "conduct" per se.

Dyan, Simon, and Laure discuss likely scenarios of how this technology will affect moral clauses and how companies should approach moral clauses going forward:

Companies will likely also be thinking more expansively about how a morals clause is drafted and what events should be anticipated. Because reputational harm is the cornerstone of the morals clause, and such harm can now be created without any actual conduct of the talent, we expect to see a push for broader and wider-reaching morals clauses that will cover public accusations and perceptions of misconduct as opposed to mere misconduct.

This article is an updated version of an earlier client alert written by Dyan, Simon, and Laure.

Read the full Law360 article using the PDF above or link below.