FaceBank Global Brings AI Likeness Rights Discussion to Hollywood Legacy Gala 2026
Beverly Hills, California, USA – October 14, 2026 – Artificial intelligence can recreate a face, imitate a voice, and generate a performance that never happened. But who should decide when—and how—a person’s identity is used?
– William Harlam, Founder and CEO of FaceBank Global.
For William Harlam, Founder and CEO of FaceBank Global, the answer begins with the person behind the image.
FaceBank Global is developing AI identity infrastructure to help people protect, control, and license their digital identities.
Its guiding idea is simple: New technology should create opportunities for people, without taking away their right to choose.
The Human Story Behind the Technology
Hollywood has reinvented storytelling for more than a century. But AI introduces a different kind of change. It can reproduce the faces and voices of performers—the very qualities that audiences connect with, and that artists spend years making their own.
For actors, filmmakers, and creators, that brings possibility and uncertainty in equal measure. A digital performance could extend a story, reach a new audience, or one day create value for an artist’s family. Yet none of those possibilities should begin without permission.
– An AI-generated digital likeness of boxing legend Ray Mercer, created for a FaceBank Global demonstration with his authorization.
The future of creativity should still belong to its creators.
FaceBank Global’s vision is to make authorized use of digital identity easier to establish and manage. Its longer-term roadmap includes new licensing and revenue opportunities for approved uses of a person’s likeness. These capabilities are being developed, rather than presented as universally available today.
A Room for Hollywood’s Next Chapter
That human-first question also sits at the center of Hollywood Legacy Gala 2026, scheduled for October 28 at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills. The inaugural gathering, themed “The Future of Human Storytelling,” is created by Sisi Cao, international television host and founder and host of Sisi Hollywood, the nationally syndicated television show and global media platform.
Rather than treating AI as the star of the evening, the Gala is designed to bring together the people shaping Hollywood’s next chapter—creators, storytellers, and industry game changers. Its Game Changer Awards vision is about recognizing those who move the industry forward while keeping human creativity at the center.
For FaceBank Global, the gathering offers a place to ask a question that matters well beyond the red carpet: How can Hollywood embrace new creative tools while respecting the identity and legacy of the people who make its stories worth telling?
Technology will change how stories are made. The people behind them are why those stories matter.
Your Identity. Our Trust. Your Legacy.
About FaceBank Global
FaceBank Global is an emerging AI identity infrastructure company founded and led by William Harlam, Founder and CEO. It focuses on digital identity protection, verification, control, and authorized licensing: www.facebankglobal.com
– William Harlam presents a FaceBank Global digital identity demonstration to boxing legend Ray Mercer.
About Sisi Hollywood
Sisi Hollywood is a nationally syndicated television show and global media platform founded and hosted by Sisi Cao, connecting East and West through meaningful conversations: www.sisihollywood.com
– Sisi Cao interviews boxing legend Ray Mercer and his wife for Sisi Hollywood at the Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame event.
Media Contact
Company Name: Sisi Hollywood
Contact Person: William Harlam
Email: Send Email
City: New York
State: NY
Country: United States
Website: sisihollywood.com
