Skip to main content
AI can generate your face, your voice, and your endorsement — without asking. Generative tools are already creating synthetic celebrity content for advertising, and the legal frameworks have not caught up. If you are a public figure with licensable rights, the question is not whether AI will use your likeness. It is whether you will have any control over how. The Ad Context Protocol (AdCP) gives you that control. It is an open standard that lets your agency or management team set the rules for how AI systems use your identity in advertising — and enforce those rules at the point of generation.

​
How it works, in plain terms

Imagine you are Daan Janssen, a Dutch Olympic speed skater. Your management agency, Loti Entertainment, represents your commercial rights. Here is what happens with AdCP in place:
  1. Your agency publishes your availability. Loti registers your rights in the protocol: what is available (likeness, voice, endorsement), where (Netherlands, Belgium, Germany), and at what price. They also list what is off-limits — product categories, competitors, content types.
  2. A brand searches for you. A restaurant chain in Amsterdam asks their AI media buyer to find a Dutch athlete for a campaign. The agent discovers your profile through AdCP, sees that you are available for food brands in the Netherlands, and that you fit their budget.
  3. The brand requests your rights. The agent submits a formal request: what they want to create, which formats, what countries, how many impressions, and for how long. This is a binding contractual request, not a casual inquiry.
  4. Your agency reviews and approves. Loti reviews the request against your preferences and existing contracts. If another food brand already has exclusivity in the Netherlands, the request is rejected automatically. If it passes, Loti sets the terms.
  5. Time-limited credentials are issued. The brand receives generation credentials — keys that allow specific AI providers (image generators, voice synthesis tools) to produce content using your likeness. These credentials expire when the contract ends. After that date, no provider will generate your likeness for that buyer.
  6. Every use is tracked and reported. Impressions are reported back to your agency for billing and cap enforcement. If the contract allows 100,000 impressions and the brand hits that limit, generation stops until they renegotiate.

​
What you control

AdCP puts several mechanisms in your agency’s hands: Approval requirements. Every creative can require your sign-off before it runs. The protocol supports a pending_approval status — nothing goes live until you or your representative says yes. Content restrictions. Your agency defines what is and is not acceptable. Categories, contexts, adjacent content, modification limits. These restrictions travel with the license. Geographic limits. Rights can be scoped to specific countries. A license for the Netherlands does not grant rights in the United States. Time-bound credentials. Generation credentials have hard expiration dates. When the license period ends, AI providers stop generating. This is not a policy — it is a technical constraint enforced by the provider. Pricing transparency. Your agency sets pricing: per-impression royalties, flat monthly rates, or both. Buyers see the price before they commit. No back-channel negotiations or opaque rate cards. Disclosure requirements. Every license can require that the brand disclose the use of AI-generated content featuring you. The disclosure text is part of the contract terms. Exclusivity enforcement. If a brand has exclusive rights to your likeness for restaurant advertising in the Netherlands, the protocol automatically rejects competing requests in that category and geography.

​
What your agency does

Your agency or management company operates as your rights agent in the protocol. They do not need to build technology. They work with a platform that implements AdCP and configure your preferences:
  • Which rights are available (likeness, voice, name, endorsement)
  • Geographic availability
  • Pricing tiers and models
  • Category exclusions (products or industries you will not endorse)
  • Approval workflows (automatic for some categories, manual review for others)
  • Exclusivity terms
The rights agent handles discovery, negotiation, credential issuance, and usage tracking. Your involvement is limited to setting preferences and reviewing creative concepts that require approval.

​
The long-tail opportunity

Traditional endorsement deals require photo shoots, contract negotiations, and weeks of back-and-forth. The transaction costs mean only big brands can afford to work with you. A local restaurant, a regional gym chain, a neighborhood car dealership — they would love to feature you, but the deal is too small to justify the process. AdCP changes the math. Because discovery, negotiation, and credential issuance are automated, small deals become viable. A steakhouse in Amsterdam can license your likeness for EUR 350 per month. A fitness studio in Rotterdam can license your voice for EUR 200 per month. Individually, these are small. Collectively, they add up. Twenty local businesses at EUR 350 per month is EUR 84,000 per year — revenue from deals that would never have happened through traditional channels. Your agency sets the price, the protocol handles the rest, and you approve the creatives that need your sign-off.

​
What the approval experience looks like

When a brand wants to use your likeness in a campaign, you or your representative see a notification. The delivery method depends on the platform your agency uses — it could be an email, a dashboard alert, or a push notification in an app. The notification includes the key details:
  • Which brand is making the request
  • What they want to create (a video ad, a display banner, a voice spot)
  • Which formats and dimensions
  • Where it will run (countries, channels)
  • How long the license lasts
From there, you or your representative have three options: approve the request, request changes, or reject it. There is no ambiguity and no pressure to respond immediately — the creative cannot be generated until a decision is recorded. If you approve, the brand receives generation credentials scoped to exactly what was agreed. If you reject, no credentials are issued and the brand cannot generate content using your likeness for that campaign. If you request changes, the brand can revise and resubmit. In protocol terms, “request changes” is a rejection with suggestions. Your agent rejects the request but includes actionable alternatives — “available in a different market” or “try a shorter license period.” The buyer’s agent sees the suggestions and can adjust automatically. A rejection without suggestions signals “no, full stop” — the buyer moves on without knowing your internal reasons. Every decision is logged. Your agency has a complete record of what was requested, what was approved, and what was denied.

​
Addressing common concerns

“Someone will generate my likeness without permission.” AdCP-compliant providers check for rights credentials before generating content using a known identity. Without a valid credential, generation is blocked. The protocol does not prevent all unauthorized use — bad actors can still misuse open-source models — but it creates a clear, enforceable standard for the legitimate advertising ecosystem. “What happens if someone uses my likeness without going through AdCP?” Your agency can use the audit trail from legitimate AdCP usage to establish what authorized use looks like. If unauthorized use appears in the market, that trail becomes evidence. AdCP does not police the internet — but it creates the paper trail that your legal team needs. “I will lose control once I license my rights.” Licenses are scoped by use, geography, time period, and content type. A license to use your likeness in video ads for a restaurant in the Netherlands does not grant rights to use your voice in audio ads for a car brand in Japan. Each dimension is independently controlled. “I won’t know how my likeness is being used.” Usage reporting is built into the protocol. Every impression against your rights is tracked and reported back to your agency. This creates an audit trail for billing, compliance, and contract enforcement. “Pricing will be a race to the bottom.” You set the price. The protocol supports multiple pricing models — CPM-based royalties, flat rates, impression caps with overage charges. Buyers see transparent pricing and either accept it or move on. There is no auction or price compression mechanism.

​
What AdCP does not solve yet

The protocol is honest about its current limitations:
  • Mid-contract revocation is supported through a revocation webhook. If something goes wrong — a talent controversy, a contract violation, a brand conflict — your agency can revoke rights immediately. The buyer provides a revocation webhook when they acquire rights, and your agency sends a notification with a reason and effective date. The buyer is responsible for stopping creative delivery. However, the protocol does not yet enforce revocation at the provider level — credential invalidation depends on provider cooperation.
  • Open-source model enforcement is outside the protocol’s scope. AdCP works with providers who participate in the credential system. It cannot prevent someone from using an uncontrolled model to generate your likeness.
  • Deepfake detection is a separate problem. AdCP handles authorized use. Detecting and responding to unauthorized synthetic content requires different tools.

​
Next steps

If you are a rights holder or represent one:
  1. Ask your agency if they work with an AdCP-compatible rights management platform. Many talent agencies and management companies already use platforms that support the protocol. If yours does, the setup is straightforward — your agency configures your preferences and approval rules on the platform they already use.
  2. If they do not, have them visit the AgenticAdvertising.org member directory to find a platform partner. Member organizations build the tools that connect talent rights to the advertising ecosystem. Your agency picks a platform, and that platform handles the technical integration.
  3. The platform partner handles the technical setup — you configure your preferences and approval rules. You decide what is available, where, at what price, and what requires your personal sign-off. The platform translates those preferences into protocol-compliant rights listings that AI media buyers can discover and negotiate against.
For a deeper look at how the protocol operates, read the rights discovery and rights acquisition documentation. The advertising industry is adopting AI-generated content. The question for rights holders is whether that adoption happens with your participation and compensation, or without it. AdCP is designed to make sure you have a seat at the table.