One evening in 9/2024, Lucy (name changed) received a direct message on Instagram from an AI startup she'd never heard of, offering to buy the rights to use her face to create an AI model of herself.

Lured by the £1,500 fee and the idea of "being an AI model," something many celebrities were doing, Lucy agreed to sign the contract without reading the terms carefully. The agreement required her to provide multiple videos to train the AI model.

Only later did Lucy realize the contract stripped her of ownership of her image in paid advertisements. "I can't accept brand endorsements or become a user-generated content creator. The £1,500 I earned disappeared quickly, most of which I invested in my freelance cosmetics business," she said.

Lucy's story is the focus of the documentary *The AI Face Trade*, by Liverpool filmmaker Sam Tullen. The 20-minute film, shot in and around Manchester, explores the rise of AI models in the user-generated content field.

Lucy recounts her regret in Sam Tullen's documentary.

Sam said the idea for the film began when he visited an AI website and saw "pages of faces" that could read any script. "Many AI models are actually built on real people's faces. Lucy's case is just the tip of the iceberg," he said.

According to Sam, many people readily accept contract offers without fully understanding the consequences, especially with concerns that personal images might be collected from the internet without permission.

With AI technology making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between real and fake, he questions whether companies should have the right to own personal images indefinitely and whether legal systems can adapt quickly enough to protect users.

Sam hopes the film will raise awareness of the speed of technological development outpacing legal frameworks.

"We want to release the film online to reach a global audience and spark a discussion about the risks of giving AI control over our faces," he said.

Nhat Minh (According to msn/liverpoolworld)