AFL Orders Sportsbet To Stop Using AI-Generated Player Content
The AFL has ordered its official gambling partner, Sportsbet, to stop featuring AFL players in AI-generated social media content and to delete videos it has already published without their permission, Guardian Australia reported.
The directive follows a formal complaint from the AFL Players' Association (AFLPA), which said the AI clips breached the collective bargaining agreement governing how the league's commercial partners can use player images.
Sportsbet had posted a series of AI-generated clips on its Instagram page showing AFL stars delivering lines from films, television shows and real speeches to react to events from the season.
One video manipulated footage of Brisbane Lions premiership player Lachie Neale to show him mimicking a 2018 acceptance speech by the rapper Snoop Dogg after joining Collingwood.
Another depicted dual Norm Smith medallist Will Ashcroft shouting a line from the television series Ozark, framed as his reaction to Fremantle's on-field celebrations during the 2026 grand final.
Sportsbet also produced AI content using the likenesses of Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell and former North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson. The videos were age-restricted and designed to drive engagement on social media, and were taken down on the Tuesday the story broke, after Sportsbet was contacted by Guardian Australia.
The AFLPA wrote to the league with its objections, arguing that AI-generated imagery of players is not covered by the current collective bargaining agreement and requires player approval before use.
The union's general manager of legal affairs said the content breached the existing agreement on image rights and that it had pushed the AFL both to remove the videos and to stop any further use of AI-generated player likenesses without consent.
The AFL said it would keep working with its partners on AI content as the technology develops.
Sportsbet said it listens to partner feedback and is continuing to work with the AFL on the evolving use of AI in its content, taking community expectations into account.
The episode lands as Australia moves to restrict how gambling operators can use sport to reach audiences: federal rules banning athletes from appearing in gambling advertising take effect next year, and the AI videos were published even as that ban was being finalised.
Independent senator David Pocock, who has campaigned on gambling and AI regulation, said the case exposed gaps in both gambling industry conduct and safeguards against deepfakes of real people.
A University of Sydney researcher who studies influencers and gambling marketing said the misstep likely reflected a lack of care about image rights rather than a deliberate strategy.
For operators promoted on Australian betting sites, the dispute is a reminder that AI-generated marketing featuring real athletes carries legal and reputational risk well beyond the advertising rules already tightening around the sector.
