Short Answer
Studios use AI to recreate actors' faces and voices. I support those uses when the actor agrees to the specific performance and viewers can learn what was changed. Consent for one role shouldn't give a studio unlimited use of someone's face or voice.
Full Analysis
Digital effects gave Harrison Ford a younger face in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Lucasfilm says its artists used several tools, including AI, older film footage, animation and digital painting.
The phrase “AI actor” can blur the difference between changing an actor's appearance and creating a performance. A crew might change the face of an actor who filmed a scene. Or it might create a character with no real person as its model. Viewers need to know which happened to understand whose work they're watching and whose permission was needed.
A copy of a real person
SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union, calls a digital copy of someone a “digital replica.” That can include their face or voice. It distinguishes that copy from a wholly digital performer who doesn't look like a known person. When a production copies a real person, that person's permission matters even if they never visit the set.
A younger face also differs from a recreated voice. An actor may have filmed a scene before artists changed how they looked. A voice built from old sound clips may speak lines the actor never recorded. Credits and notes from the crew can explain which parts came from a new performance and which were created afterward.
Harrison Ford still took part
Ford performed much of the opening train action, according to Lucasfilm. He also reviewed the younger look and helped shape it. Calling that an “AI performance” could lead viewers to believe a computer replaced Ford's acting, even though he performed scenes that artists then altered.
Viewers can judge the effect alongside his performance. Does the younger face fit the way Ford moves and acts? Does it draw your eye away from the train action? His movements and expressions are part of what makes the younger face convincing on screen.
James Earl Jones helped guide the voice
AI helped recreate James Earl Jones's voice for the 2022 series Obi-Wan Kenobi. Sound artists used his older recordings to make new Darth Vader lines. Vanity Fair reported that Jones agreed to the use and helped guide the performance.
Jones died in September 2024. The series came before his death, so his role in it shouldn't be confused with a choice made after he died. Fans may welcome that familiar voice or prefer to hear a new actor take the role. Neither reaction tells us what Jones agreed to allow beyond that series.
Consent has limits
A later production needs separate permission if the actor's original agreement doesn't cover that use. SAG-AFTRA's film and TV agreement sets consent and payment rules for digital copies, but those protections apply to work covered by the agreement, not every video online.
News that an actor approved one performance doesn't establish that they approved another. Without the terms of Jones's agreement, viewers shouldn't assume either that every future use is allowed or that every use requires a new agreement.
Studios can explain what an actor approved in plain words. They can also name the artists who built the effect and say when a voice was recreated rather than newly recorded.
My Recommendation
A clip shared online may lack the filmmakers' explanation of how it was made. Before sharing it as a star's new performance, check what was copied and who approved that use. If those facts aren't clear, don't fill in the gaps with a guess. A missing explanation isn't proof of wrongdoing.
For parents, a brief chat can help kids understand a copied face or voice. Computers can change what an actor filmed or make speech from older sound clips. Use the scene to talk about make-believe and why someone needs to ask before using another person's face or voice.