Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston just went to war with AI and won

https://www.dexerto.com/tv-movies/breaking-bad-star-bryan-cranston-just-went-to-war-with-ai-and-won-3272092/

Chris Tilly Oct 21, 2025 · 3 mins read
Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston just went to war with AI and won
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Bryan Cranston has thanked OpenAI for cracking down on deepfakes of himself and his characters on the company’s Sora 2 platform.

When OpenAI’s generative video platform Sora 2 launched earlier this year, the Internet was swamped with deepfake images of celebrities both alive and dead.

Debate followed about whether the living celebrities who were depicted in the videos had to opt-out of being featured on Sora 2.

Multiple talent agencies alleged that they were told that their clients had to opt-out, while OpenAI claimed it had created “guardrails intended to ensure that your audio and image likeness are used with your consent.”

Bryan Cranston thanks OpenAI for “improving” deepfake guardrails

The issue has come to a head this month, with the LA Times reporting on “a synthetic Michael Jackson taking a selfie video with an image of Breaking Bad,” on October 11.

The star of that show – Bryan Cranston – alerted actors’ union SAG-AFTRA to concerns over his likeness being used on Sora 2. Then on Monday (October 20), Cranston issued a statement through the union, thanking OpenAI for “improving its guardrails” to prevent users generating his likeness again.

“I was deeply concerned not just for myself, but for all performers whose work and identity can be misused in this way,” Cranston wrote. “I am grateful to OpenAI for its policy and for improving its guardrails, and hope that they and all of the companies involved in this work, respect our personal and professional right to manage replication of our voice and likeness.”

That same day, The Guardian reported that talent agencies “UTA and CAA co-signed a statement with OpenAI, Sag-Aftra and talent agent union the Association of Talent Agents, stating that what had happened to Cranston was an error, and that they would all work together to protect actors’ ‘right to determine how and whether they can be simulated.'”

Former Stranger Things star Sean Astin – who is the current SAG-AFTRA president – added that Cranston “is one of countless performers whose voice and likeness are in danger of massive misappropriation by replication technology.”

“Bryan did the right thing by communicating with his union and his professional representatives to have the matter addressed. This particular case has a positive resolution. I’m glad that OpenAI has committed to using an opt-in protocol, where all artists have the ability to choose whether they wish to participate in the exploitation of their voice and likeness using AI.”