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LeBron James sent a cease and desist letter to Bron AI, an AI-powered sports betting app, over the unauthorized use of his likeness in a promotional video.
LeBron James sent a cease and desist letter to an AI-powered sports betting app called Bron AI that uses his likeness without authorization, a spokesperson for James tells Front Office Sports.
The letter, from law firm Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks PC, demands that Bron AI permanently stop using James’s likeness “in any manner and media,” including removing the ad. It also says the company must notify every person who has used the app, in writing, that James has no involvement with the company.
The letter rails against the “unauthorized use and illicit exploitation of” the 76ers star’s “name, nickname, likeness, image, persona, and other identifying attributes, materials and related information” to create the appearance of an association between the two sides.
The unauthorized use is “especially serious and egregious” because James has an exclusive endorsement deal with Polymarket, and because the ad implies he is “involved with betting on basketball, which is a very serious violation of NBA rules and regulations,” according to the letter.
Bron AI bills itself as a tool that aggregates data and odds from traditional sportsbooks and prediction markets, allowing users to identify potentially profitable wagers and automatically place bets on other apps.
Its promotional video, posted to X/Twitter Wednesday, features a character who resembles James and is wearing a basketball jersey with his nickname, “Bron,” and his number, 23. The character, whose voice also resembles how James sounds, flips through the app before stopping on a photo of Suns forward Dillon Brooks. “Dillon Brooks? On Kalshi? Hell nah.” the character says.
The post, made by the company’s CEO, quickly garnered attention, racking up more than 900,000 views in less than 24 hours. Roughly three hours after the publication of this story, the ad was removed from X/Twitter. For now, it is still up on Instagram.
In addition to James and Brooks, the ad includes images of NBA players Donovan Mitchell and Giannis Antetokounmpo and NFL players Christian McCaffrey and Jayden Daniels. A photo of Lakers star Luka Dončić also appears in the ad. A representative for Dončić tells FOS he has also sent a cease and desist to Bron AI.
Bron AI is owned by a company called PlayVision Inc., which was founded in 2025 and is backed by venture-capital firm Y Combinator. The app is free to download, but the “pro” version costs either $249.99 for an annual subscription or $29.99 for a monthly subscription. Bron AI and PlayVision did not respond to requests for comment.
Adam Mendelsohn, James’s longtime media advisor, tells FOS the Bron AI ad is “another example of the decline and lack of originality in sports marketing,” with “people all playing for the cheapest way to get clicks and aggregation.”
Darren Heitner, a prominent college sports attorney who also handles trademark filings and disputes for professional athletes and sports agencies, says the ad is “shocking.”
“It appears the commercial is a clear effort to trade on LeBron James’s identity,” Heitner tells FOS. “The combination of the nickname ‘Bron,’ the number 23, and the physical presentation, as well as the similarity in voice, seems designed to evoke him and capitalize on his stature in connection with an unrelated sports betting product.”
Harvard Law School professor Rebecca Tushnet tells FOS the ad clearly infringes on the rights of publicity for James and the other athletes who are shown. “This isn’t hard,” she says.
The case highlights the legal risks AI companies face when using celebrity likenesses without permission. It also follows a previous instance in July 2025, when James demanded that the creators of a tool called Interlink AI stop allowing videos using his likeness after users created videos with a pregnant version of James.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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