- Was discovered on the night of State of Origin game three
- Other big names in footy have been targeted previously
Nathan Cleary’s lawyers are looking at launching criminal proceedings in court after footy fans discovered flyers featuring a faked AI image of the Penrith star with a bikini-clad woman.
Hundreds of supporters found flyers using the image on their cars after watching the final game of the State of Origin series at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on Wednesday night.
The advertisement, which appears to spruik footy-themed covers for car bonnets, shows a faked image of Cleary wearing a NSW jersey with his arm around a model in a revealing dress.
Text on the advertisement reads, ‘Way to go Blues! I knew you had rizz! I’m taking this one home!’
It also runs the disclaimer ‘This flyer was printed a week ago’ above a website address.
Cleary’s lawyer, Daniel McGirr, foreshadowed criminal and civil legal action over the ad campaign.
Pictured: The fake image of Nathan Cleary that is likely to be the subject of criminal legal proceedings, according to the star’s lawyer
The lawyer acting for Cleary (pictured with girlfriend Mary Fowler) said incidents like the one that surfaced after Wednesday night’s Origin game ‘will get worse and worse’ as the use of AI to create fake images ramps up
‘It’s a disgrace what they’re doing with these guys’ brands,’ McGirr told the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘There’s a couple of avenues that we’ll go down the track of.
‘One of them is civilly, but they are also obtaining a benefit by deception, which is criminal.
‘The punter on the street thinks, “Nathan Cleary is aligned to this, I trust him and he’s my hero”.
‘They click on it and they could be taken to the dark web or something like that and get scammed.
‘It’s a criminal matter. With AI, this will get worse and worse until something is done about it.’
Cleary isn’t the only footy star who has been hit with an AI deepfake recently.
NRLW star Jaime Chapman – who recently split from her Queensland Origin boyfriend Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow – was also the victim of a fake sexualised image that was distributed online.
Cleary (pictured) isn’t the only footy star who has been targeted with fake images
NRLW star Jaime Chapman (pictured) recently lashed out after being targeted ‘a few times’ with doctored images
The Blues and Gold Coast Titans player took to Instagram to slam whoever was behind the deepfake photo attack, which involved a doctored image of her taking a selfie while wearing a bikini.
‘Have a good day to everyone except those who make fake ai photos of other people,’ she wrote.
‘AI is scary these days.
‘Next time think of how damaging this can be to someone and their loved ones.
‘This has happened a few times now and it needs to stop.’
Soon after that news broke, former TV footy reporter Tiffany Salmond revealed she’d fallen victim to a deepfaked image.
‘This morning I posted a photo of myself in a bikini,’ Salmond posted on Instagram.
‘Within hours a deepfake AI video was reportedly created and circulated.
‘It’s not the first time this has happened to me, and I know I’m not the only woman in sport this is happening to.’
Salmond added: ‘You don’t make deepfakes of women you overlook. You make them of women you can’t control.’
