Actor Likeness Authorization / 演员脸部授权

Definition

Actor likeness authorization / 演员脸部授权 is the commercial permission to use an actor’s face, body, or identity signal in AI-generated performance without necessarily transferring the actor’s own artistic authorship to the generated output.

Current Synthesis

The episode separates two questions that are often collapsed. One question is whether an actor can license a face or persona for commercial use, such as platform-generated clips or additional livestreams. The other is whether a third party controlling that face with prompts, motion, or scripts is still producing the actor’s own performance.

The current judgment is conditional: authorization can be commercially reasonable when it creates clear value and compensation, but it does not automatically solve authorship, consent scope, credit, labor replacement, or audience expectation. The actor’s face can travel farther than the actor’s intentional expression.

Key Claims

• A licensed face is not the same as a self-authored performance.
• Commercial authorization may still be rational when it creates value for the actor, platform, and audience.
• Consent scope matters because a third party may control script, movement, tone, and usage context.
• Likeness authorization sits between IP rights, labor protection, and creative authorship.
• Audience trust depends on whether viewers know who controlled the performance and how it was generated.

Evidence

• Authorship split - No.232 吴汉坤：AI 时代，演员第一个丢饭碗？ records Wu’s view that a third party using an authorized face with prompts or motion may not count as the actor’s own performance.
• Commercial qualification - No.232 吴汉坤：AI 时代，演员第一个丢饭碗？ notes Wu’s concession that actors need income and that practical arrangements depend on the case.
• Livestream example - No.232 吴汉坤：AI 时代，演员第一个丢饭碗？ uses authorized streamer faces to open more livestreams as a potentially value-creating scenario.
• Industry boundary - No.232 吴汉坤：AI 时代，演员第一个丢饭碗？ distinguishes technical feasibility from whether the industry should allow substitution of workers in particular roles.
• Audience expectation - No.232 吴汉坤：AI 时代，演员第一个丢饭碗？ connects AI performers to the problem of whether viewers believe a human subject is behind what they see.

Counterevidence & Qualifications

The source does not provide a legal framework, contract template, union position, or platform policy. It defines a creator-side ethical and authorship boundary rather than a settled rights regime.

What Changed

• Created the concept to preserve the episode’s distinction between licensing a face and authoring a performance.

Related Concepts

• AI Public Likeness Generation - broader public-likeness and deepfake boundary.
• AI Voice Cloning Rights - adjacent authorization problem for voices rather than faces.
• Synthetic Performers - generated performer category that can use or avoid real-person likeness.
• AI Content Provenance - disclosure layer needed for generated or authorized media.
• Creative Labor AI Backlash - labor and audience resistance when authorization is used to replace workers.
• Actor AI Performance Boundary / 演员与 AI 表演边界 - performance-quality and authorship boundary behind the rights issue.