How Stories Happen Something bad happened to me thanks to AI
Mar 30, 2026
Jay Acunzo, a storytelling advisor and former marketing leader at Google and HubSpot, shares a personal AI likeness story. He recounts discovering unauthorized AI edits, discusses consent and contractual protections, debates the ethics of digital clones, and outlines why personalization and paying creators matter. The conversation probes platform training, legal realities, and how creators can set clear boundaries.
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Guest Appearance Used AI Images Without Consent
- Jay Acunzo was featured on a podcast that used an old headshot and then AI-altered images to put him in different poses and a suit without consent.
- He discovered the episode after publication, felt violated, posted about it, and the show's CMO publicly owned the mistake.
AI Remixing Can Manufacture False Quotes
- Jay argues AI remixing of interviews can misquote or reconstitute meaning the way careless editing would, creating false quotes or contexts.
- He compares AI remixing to rearranging transcript fragments so a person appears to say something they never said.
AI Threat Extends Celebrity Protections To Casual Guesting
- Jay notes keynote speaking contracts already protect likeness because emulating celebrity status makes people understand the risk.
- The AI threat is shifting those protections into podcast guesting and webinars where no paperwork used to exist.