The AFL has told its official gambling partner, Sportsbet, to stop featuring its high-profile athletes in AI-generated social media content without their permission.
Sportsbet has also been told to delete AI videos depicting AFL stars delivering lines from movies, television shows or speeches to react to real events.
The videos were age-restricted and designed to boost Sportsbet’s engagement on social media, in a bid for new audiences and customers.
The videos were published despite the federal government legislating to ban athletes appearing in gambling ads. The new rules take effect next year.
One recent AI video depicts former Brisbane Lions premiership player Lachie Neale accepting an award at his new club, Collingwood. Sportsbet manipulated his image to show him mimicking a ۲۰۱۸ speech from the US rapper Snoop Dogg accepting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
“Last but not least, I want to thank me,” an AI-generated video of Neale said. “I want to thank me for believing in me. I want to thank me for doing all this hard work.”
Another AI-generated video depicts the Brisbane Lions player Will Ashcroft. The dual Norm Smith medallist was shown screaming a line from the television show Ozark: “If you want to stop me you’re going to have to fucking kill me”.
Sportsbet suggested this was Ashcroft’s response to Fremantle playing Wharfie Time in the final quarter of the ۲۰۲۶ AFL grand final.
The videos were removed from its Instagram page on Tuesday afternoon, after Sportsbet was contacted by Guardian Australia.
The gambling company has also created AI content using the images of the Hawthorn coach, Sam Mitchell, and former North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson.
While these videos were designed to be humorous, the AFL Players’ Association (AFLPA) said it was not impressed.
The AFLPA, which acts as a union, wrote to the league late last week with its concerns. It argued the videos breached a collective bargaining agreement between players and the AFL, which restricts how their images can be used by the league’s partners.
The association’s general manager of legal affairs, Alex Taverner, said: “AI generated player imagery is not permitted without the players’ approval.”
“We raised this with the AFL and advocated for both the removal of the content and a cessation of the use of AI-generated imagery and vision of players without their approval.
“Importantly, the AFL will now work with Sportsbet to remove the content.”
An AFL spokesperson said it would “continue to work closely with our partners on the use of AI content and will continue to do so as the technology evolves”.
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A Sportsbet spokesperson said the company is “always developing content that entertains fans and supports engagement with sport”.
“We listen to our partners’ feedback and respond accordingly,” the spokesperson said.
“We’re continuing to work with the AFL on the evolving use of AI in our content, taking account of partner feedback and community expectations.”
The ۲۰۲۳-۲۰۲۷ collective bargaining agreement allows Sportsbet to use images and vision of players without permission, but only in certain circumstances and with restrictions. The agreement makes no mention of AI.
Independent ACT senator, David Pocock, a former professional athlete who focuses on the gambling industry and AI, said the case highlighted a need for tougher regulation.
“AI being used to generate images of elite athletes without their consent to promote harmful gambling products and attempt to buy social licensce exposes issues with gambling company behaviour as well as the lack of safeguards against deep fakes,” Pocock said.
Dr Mark Johnson, a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney who has researched social media influencers and gambling, said Sportsbet could have taken more care.
“The most likely explanation is that someone at Sportsbet acted without thinking and never paused to consider how the images of sportspeople are, themselves, often an element of brands and ownership,” Johnson said.
