LeBron James Sends Cease-And-Desist To AI Betting App That Faked His Likeness And Voice

LeBron James Sends Cease-And-Desist To AI Betting App That Faked His Likeness And Voice

A startup built an ad around a fake LeBron James. His lawyers answered within the day.

Bron AI, an AI-powered sports betting app run by PlayVision Inc. — a company founded in 2025 and backed by the startup accelerator Y Combinator — posted a promotional video on Wednesday through its CEO. The video features an AI-generated character who looks like James, wears a jersey with his nickname “Bron” and his No. 23, and speaks in a voice resembling his while scrolling through the app, which aggregates odds and betting data. At one point the character flips past Phoenix forward Dillon Brooks and cracks, “Dillon Brooks? On Kalshi? Hell nah.”

The video pulled more than 900,000 views in under 24 hours. Then the lawyers arrived.

“LeBron is in no way affiliated with this unauthorized use of his likeness,” a spokesperson for James told Front Office Sports, which first reported the dispute. James’ legal team at Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks sent Bron AI a cease-and-desist letter railing against the “unauthorized use and illicit exploitation” of his “name, nickname, likeness, image, persona, and other identifying attributes.” The letter demands the company permanently stop using his likeness in any media, take the ad down, and notify its users in writing that James has no involvement with the platform.

The letter also explains why this one cut deeper than a lookalike. James has an exclusive endorsement agreement with the prediction-market platform Polymarket — Kalshi’s biggest competitor, and the very platform the fake “Bron” name-dropped in the ad. The letter called the use “especially serious and egregious” for that reason, and because the ad implies James is involved in betting on basketball, which would be a serious violation of NBA rules. To be clear: nobody is alleging James bet on anything. The allegation is that the ad made it look like he endorses a betting product.

The ad was removed from X roughly three hours after Front Office Sports published its story, though it remained up on the company’s Instagram at that time. James was not the only athlete in the video — it also used the likenesses of Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Donovan Mitchell, Dillon Brooks, Christian McCaffrey and Jayden Daniels — and he was not the only one to lawyer up: Doncic’s representatives confirmed to Front Office Sports that they sent Bron AI a cease-and-desist of their own.

The company’s response suggests it understood the play all along. Bron AI CEO Anish Gupta followed up by teasing a name change — “We heard y’all loud and clear, so we went back in the arena… It’s time for a new name” — and James’ longtime media adviser Adam Mendelsohn said the quiet part out loud: “I’m sure the intent here was for us to send a cease and desist in order to make it a story.”

This is not James’ first fight over his digital double. In July 2025, his lawyers sent a cease-and-desist to Interlink AI demanding it stop letting users generate videos with his likeness. The Bron AI episode shows how fast the problem is moving: a startup can now manufacture a superstar’s face and voice, attach him to a betting product he never touched, and rack up close to a million views before the legal system even wakes up.

Sources: Front Office Sports (exclusive report), ESPN, Sports Illustrated and the New York Post.