A streamer has claimed that ads promoting Nexon game The First Descendant are using AI to make it look like he’s promoting them.
Over the weekend a series of ads promoting the game appeared on TikTok via the official The First Descendant account.
These ads all show a streamer talking about the game, but Reddit user iHardlyTriHard gathered some of the ads and posted a montage of them, pointing out that all the streamers appear to be voiced by AI.
It was then pointed out that the first of the videos in the montage appears to show streamer DanieltheDemon, but that his voice appeared to be different.
Now DanieltheDemon has stated that the videos have nothing to do with him, claiming that his likeness has been used without his permission.
After a story about the clips was posted on the Game Central TikTok channel, DanieltheDemon replied in the comments, saying: “I have no affiliation nor contract with The First Descendant. They stole my face/reactions from my most viral video and used AI to change what my mouth says and a voice that isn’t mine. I did not consent for my likeness to be used.”
Publisher Nexon has now made a statement addressing the situation, saying the ads were submitted by users as part of a ‘TikTok Creative Challenge’, which TikTok describes as an “official creator monetization program that turns your creativity into cash by creating UGC-style ads for your favorite brands”.
The statement claims the ads somehow got past TikTok’s own copyright violation checks, and were approved as advertising content as a result.
“As a part of our marketing campaign for Season 3: Breakthrough, we recently ran a Creative Challenge program for TikTok creators, which allows creators to voluntarily submit their content to be used as advertising materials,” it said.
“All submitted videos are verified through TikTok’s system to check copyright violations before they are approved as advertising content. However, we have become aware of cases where the circumstances surrounding the production of certain submitted videos appear inappropriate. Thus, we are conducting a thorough joint investigation with TikTok to determine the facts.
“We sincerely apologize for the delay in providing this notice as the review is taking longer than expected. Once the verification is complete, we will promptly share an update through an official notice.”
