The Australian Football League has told official gambling partner Sportsbet to stop using high-profile players in AI-generated social media videos unless those athletes give permission. Guardian Australia reported on October 13 that the league also directed the betting company to remove existing clips that placed players’ likenesses into borrowed movie, television and speech performances.

The synthetic videos were age-restricted and designed to increase Sportsbet’s social-media engagement. They arrived at an especially sensitive moment: the Australian federal government has legislated to ban athletes from appearing in gambling advertisements, with those restrictions due to take effect next year, according to the Guardian.

Anonymous athletes face pixel-like doubles behind a locked consent gate.
The players’ union objected to synthetic portrayals made without athlete approval.

One removed clip used the likeness of former Brisbane Lions premiership player Lachie Neale in a fictional award acceptance at his new club, Collingwood. Another depicted Brisbane Lions player Will Ashcroft delivering an aggressive line from the television series Ozark as a reaction to an event during the 2026 AFL grand final. Sportsbet also produced AI content involving Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell and former North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson.

The clips disappeared from Sportsbet’s Instagram account on Tuesday afternoon after Guardian Australia contacted the company. Although the posts were intended as humor, the AFL Players’ Association objected to athletes being synthetically portrayed without approval and raised the issue with the league late last week.

The players’ union argued that the videos breached the collective bargaining agreement governing how AFL partners may use player images. Its legal affairs chief, Alex Taverner, said AI-generated player imagery requires player approval and that the association sought both removal of the existing material and an end to further unauthorized synthetic depictions.

A paper contract passes over a glowing deepfake machine with a visible gap in its terms.
The current collective bargaining agreement regulates image use but does not mention artificial intelligence.

The contract at the center of the dispute illustrates how quickly generative media has moved beyond older rights language. The 2023–2027 collective bargaining agreement permits Sportsbet to use player images and footage without individual permission only in defined circumstances and subject to restrictions. The Guardian reported that the agreement does not mention artificial intelligence.

Sportsbet said it develops content to entertain fans and support engagement, listens to partner feedback and is continuing to work with the AFL as expectations around AI evolve. The league similarly said it would keep working with partners on synthetic content as the technology changes. Those statements indicate ongoing discussions, but they do not establish a new consent policy beyond the direction to remove these videos.

The episode has also drawn a broader political response. Independent senator and former professional athlete David Pocock told the Guardian that using elite athletes’ images without consent to promote gambling exposed both industry conduct and the lack of deepfake safeguards. With new gambling-advertising limits approaching, the dispute places AI consent rules, labor agreements and marketing regulation on a collision course that existing contracts may not yet resolve.