LeBron: 0, AI: -3. That’s the count after The King’s latest brush with technology. LeBron James was apparently displeased with certain AI-generated content on himself. It was enough for him to take the legal route. As a result, three social media accounts creating ‘brainrot’ content with Artificial Intelligence were taken down.  It marks the first time a major celebrity has cracked down on the creation of nonconsensual AI imagery of their likeness.

404 Media, the leading tech publication, revealed that LeBron James sent cease and desist letters to multiple creators making certain AI-generated videos of him. These particular videos have a recurring theme – they depict LeBron as pregnant.

The creators of the AI tool and the Discord community were served with this legal notice. In the immediate aftermath, three Instagram accounts carrying those videos (that has been shared multiple times already) were banned. These accounts got millions of views on such content, mostly on Bron and Stephen Curry. Meta, at the time of writing, hasn’t issued a public statement as to whether they, too, were served a legal notice.

Last year, Meta introduced a few features for consensual AI-generated content. Earlier this month, it cracked down on AI-generated Facebook spam by removing monetization privileges and stopped recommending content from accounts that repeatedly post unoriginal content. The policy was aimed at protecting human content creators. Around 500,000 accounts were taken action against in this move.

However, neither Meta nor its Billionaire owner, Mark Zuckerberg, has issued any statement on this issue (so far).

AI tool creator responds to LeBron James

With the AI market growing at an unfathomable rate, already worth a whopping $279.22 billion, thousands of AI tools have popped up that are used to make such fake videos. 404 Media did an extensive deep dive into ‘brainrot’ AI that garners millions of views for Meta users. Most of them used a tool called Interlink AI, which ran on the platform FlickUp. Its Discord channel taught users how to make these videos. Reportedly, some of these guides detailed how to make videos of LeBron James. A good number of them depict the Lakers’ star in compromising positions.

Jason Stacks, the founder of FlickUp confirmed that he received a letter from James’ attorney a “couple of weeks ago.” The cease & desist came from the law firm Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, the firm that has represented James in his endorsement deals. Stacks said it was originally a “fun idea” to help YouTube creators generate revenue. “Let’s squash this beef bro,” he directly appealed to Bron.

He was just as intimidated in real life as in that post. He told 404 Media, “Within 30 minutes of receiving the cease and desist, we made the decision to remove all realistic people from Interlink AI’s software.” As prompt as Stacks was in his action and response, Meta wasn’t. It remains to be seen whether this issue will be promptly resolved or will drag on.