On October 8, 2026, HeyGen and Ryan Serhant, the real estate CEO Variety calls the star of Netflix's "Owning Manhattan," launched @HeySerhant. It's a social channel run by his AI avatar that "will publish original content every day for the next 12 months." HeyGen's release says the avatar was "Created using Serhant's likeness and voice," with "every post clearly labeled as AI," and with Serhant "helping shape and approve the topics and messaging." HeyGen's campaign page puts the capture simply: "Ryan recorded himself once, and that footage became his avatar: his face, his voice, his delivery." Variety reports Serhant says his company produces about 2,200 social posts a month. The avatar is about volume.
That's what a consented AI twin looks like. Eight days earlier, California's governor signed SB 1111, which spells out what happens when someone makes your twin without asking. Put the two side by side and you can see where the value is: consent.
Takeaway #1: Your replica is your likeness
FROM THE RULE
"For the purposes of this section, a voice or likeness includes a digital replica, as defined in Section 3344.1."
What it means for you. California's §3344 is the right of publicity for living people. SB 1111 adds this one sentence, and the Legislative Counsel's Digest says it would "clarify" the law, not invent a new right. A "digital replica" is a "computer-generated, highly realistic electronic representation that is readily identifiable as the voice or visual likeness of an individual" in a performance the person didn't give, or one that was "materially altered."
So from January 1, 2027, the statute says expressly that a HeyGen-style avatar of you counts as your likeness for §3344. Since the Digest calls it a clarification, don't assume earlier replica uses were safe. The same bill adds Penal Code §540: "false impersonation includes the use of a digital replica with the intent to impersonate another," for crimes where impersonation is an element. SB 1111 also deletes an old presumption that helped employers when an employee's photo appeared only incidentally in an ad without consent.
Your move. Creators: if you're building an avatar, treat the face-and-voice capture like a master recording. Find out where it's stored, who can run it and what happens to it when the deal ends.
Takeaway #2: Knowing use, no consent, real money
FROM THE RULE
"Any person who knowingly uses another's name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness, in any manner, on or in products, merchandise, or goods, or for purposes of advertising or selling, or soliciting purchases of, products, merchandise, goods, or services, without that person's prior consent ... shall be liable for any damages sustained by the person or persons injured as a result thereof."
What it means for you. The claim needs a knowing use, for advertising or selling, without "prior consent." The remedies: "the greater of seven hundred fifty dollars ($750) or the actual damages," plus profits from the use, punitive damages and attorney's fees. A court can order removal "within two business days" of service. It's a commercial-use statute. A non-commercial deepfake falls outside §3344, though other laws may reach it. Media that merely run an ad are generally out too, "unless it is established that those owners or employees had knowledge of the unauthorized use."
In the release, Serhant says the partnership "lets me scale my presence and put the strength of our brand behind more agents, more listings and more client conversations." As HeyGen describes it, his deal has the opposite ingredients: consent, his say on topics and messaging, AI labels and a 12-month run. The devil is in the details. Who owns the trained model after the term ends? Can the platform reuse your voice data to improve its product? Who answers if the avatar says something you never approved?
Your move. Before you license your twin, get in writing: approval of every script, a fixed term, labeling, a ban on reuse of your data for other customers, and deletion of the model when the deal ends.
Sample wording (our illustration): "Licensee may generate content with the Avatar only from scripts Talent approves in writing, and will delete the Avatar model within 30 days after the Term."
And always remember, don't sign it till you read it, my friends.
General information, not legal advice. Reading this doesn't create an attorney-client relationship. Talk to a lawyer before you license your likeness.
Sources
- HeyGen, 'Ryan Serhant Partners with HeyGen to Turn His Own Face and Voice Into a Daily Content Engine' (PR Newswire), Oct 8, 2026
- Variety, ''Owning Manhattan' Star Ryan Serhant Links With AI Startup HeyGen...', Oct 8, 2026
- SB 1111 (Ashby), Chapter 862, Statutes of 2026 (chaptered text)
- Office of the Governor, Sept 30, 2026 signing release
- HeyGen, @HeySerhant campaign page
