We should call this what it is, and it’s fascinating: using “live deepfake” technology is used to re-skin actual tennis players as Wii animations, so it’s not really “their” tennis-match being streamed to YouTube.

Goodbye, licensing issues.

Where are the anti-AI, anti-Deepfake activists?

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Tennis Australia has transformed the world’s best tennis players into animated versions of themselves in an ingenious effort to bypass broadcasting restrictions at this year’s Australian Open.

https://www.espn.co.uk/tennis/story/_/id/43432686/australian-open-wii-animations-tennis-players-youtube

The Australian Open getting around restrictive broadcast rights by posting AI-generated Nintendo-Wii cartoon avatars on YouTube streams is genius.

Watched half Novak Djokovic vs. Carlos Alcaraz match in animated form, including that great 15-shot rally (and Novak’s celebration). pic.twitter.com/fzPH7ba8xQ

— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) January 22, 2025