I'm surprised this is big news right now as I remember reading in the news all the way back in 2003 that for the Matrix sequels, the role of Seraph(the guardian of the Oracle) was supposed to go to the famous Jet Li, but he turned it down as WB had him sign off the rights to his digital image and Kung-Fu moves which he refused as he considered that his proprietary IP, so his role went to a lesser known actor who had less bargaining power.
So even 20 years ago, before the advent of ML driven deep-fakes, the tech existed to capture, digitize and generate photorealistic copies of actors[1], which they used for the Matrix sequels, so the writing was on the wall for at least that long.
So even 20 years ago, before the advent of ML driven deep-fakes, the tech existed to capture, digitize and generate photorealistic copies of actors[1], which they used for the Matrix sequels, so the writing was on the wall for at least that long.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz3vbzU1PiE