Who Owns
Your Face?
Right now. It might not be you.
Join us at this year’s
Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity
to find out…
About WEIR AI
Based in Menlo Park, California, WEIR AI is a public benefit corporation developing technologies that protect people from AI-based threats while creating new opportunities.
Inspired by structures that control the flow of water, the name WEIR reflects our mission to empower people and businesses to shape how AI affects them—preserving their agency in a digital world.
WEIR AI is AI for the Human Era.
What We’re Launching
What is
Public Identity Management™?
Your face, voice, and likeness can be used in ways you didn’t approve—often without you knowing.
WEIR AI has created Public Identity Management™, a breakthrough technology that helps you:
Detect when your name, image, or likeness appears in digital content
Control who can use it
Protect your identity in real time
Monetize your digital presence with consent
It’s Official. WEIR AI is a Sponsor at Cannes Lions 2025
From June 16–20, WEIR AI will take center stage at the Lions Beach House on La Plage Croisette.
Join us for a week of storytelling, hands-on demos, and eye-opening conversations redefining digital identity.
The Cannes Lions x WEIR AI Lineup
We’re unveiling daily themes, guest speakers, and a full walkthrough of our Cannes Lions 2025 activation.
You won’t want to miss the conversations.
Don’t Miss Out
Reserve Your Spot
Monday | What Is WEIR AI? | Framing the Future of Identity
Kick off Cannes Lions 2025 with coffee, community, and a crucial question: Who owns your face? The WEIR AI team welcomes guests with an energizing look at how Public Identity Management™ is redefining the balance of power in the digital world, putting people, not platforms, back in control of their likeness and data.
10:15–10:35 AM | WEIR AI: A New Framework for Digital Identity – Gary McCoy, Co-Founder, WEIR AI
In a digital world where identities are constantly copied, scraped, and sold, what if you had the power to decide how yours is used? Gary McCoy lays out WEIR AI’s foundational vision: a new framework that gives individuals ownership over their face, voice, and likeness and offers brands a path to ethical, transparent identity use at scale.
12:00-12:20 PM | AI’s Impact on the Advertising Ecosystem – Andrew Hoeberichts, Strategic Advisor, WEIR AI (Former Publicis, Dentsu, WPP)
AI is transforming advertising—offering brands full automation of creative, targeting, and distribution. With platforms like Meta developing tools to generate entire campaigns from a single product image and budget, personalization and scale have never been easier. But this shift comes with rising risks: from NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) rights violations to loss of creative control and brand safety concerns. In this talk, Andrew Hoeberichts explores how WEIR AI’s Public Identity Management™ helps protect identity in a landscape where ads are machine-made, and real people are often left out of the equation.
2:00–2:20 PM | Inside the Digital Black Market – Gary McCoy, Co-Founder, WEIR AI
From AI-generated clones to unauthorized ad appearances, the black market for faces is booming. Gary McCoy exposes the underworld of digital identity exploitation and shows how WEIR AI is building tools to fight back- one pixel at a time.
4:00–4:20 PM | From Privacy to Power: Why Identity Management is the New Digital Right – Gary McCoy & Tal Hassner, Co-Founders, WEIR AI
WEIR AI isn’t just a technology—it’s a movement. McCoy and Hassner explain how managing your digital identity is no longer just a privacy concern, but a fundamental right in the AI age. Learn why controlling your face, your data, and your digital identity is key to claiming your future.
Tuesday | The Crisis | Identity Theft by Design
9:00–10:00 AM | The Identity Roast (Coffee + Conversation) – Gary McCoy & Tal Hassner, Co-Founders, WEIR AI
Start your morning with sharp insights and sharper coffee. Founders Gary McCoy, Tal Hassner and the WEIR AI team open the day with a candid, high-energy session exploring how identity theft became a design flaw in today’s digital ecosystem. Learn what’s at stake and what’s being done to fix it.
10:15–10:35 AM | The Face Recognition Paradox: Protection vs. Peril – Tal Hassner, Co-Founder, WEIR AI
Why isn’t technology that can identify our faces online being used to protect us from misuse? Tal Hassner, who led face recognition initiatives at tech giants like Meta and AWS, from research to production, unpacks the regulatory and societal concerns that have stalled crucial protective measures. This session reveals the journey from pioneering facial recognition to developing new, safer systems at WEIR designed to empower individuals and protect their image rights.
11:35–11:55 AM | The Compliance Layer: Tech Standards for a Trusted Identity Future – Anthony Katsur, CEO, IAB Tech Lab
As digital identity and data privacy move to the forefront of regulation, the advertising industry stands at a critical crossroads. In this session, Anthony Katsur unpacks the emerging technical standards reshaping how platforms and advertisers manage identity, consent, and authenticity at scale. From the rise of privacy-first frameworks to the shift away from third-party identifiers, Katsur outlines the new compliance frontier—and what brands must do now to build trust while staying competitive.
1:30–1:50 PM | Brand Risk in the Age of Identity Misuse – Gary McCoy, Co-Founder, WEIR AI
What happens when a stolen face ends up in your ad campaign? Gary McCoy explores the brand backlash, legal fallout, and ethical minefields that come when digital identity is weaponized. Discover how companies can get ahead of the risk and why reputation now hinges on responsibility.
Wednesday | The Receipts | Real Harm, Real Stakes
9:00–10:00 AM | The Identity Roast (Coffee + PIM in Practice) – Gary McCoy & Tal Hassner, Co-Founders, WEIR AI
Start your morning with sharp insights and sharper coffee. Founders Gary McCoy, Tal Hassner and the WEIR AI team open the day with a candid, high-energy session exploring how identity theft became a design flaw in today’s digital ecosystem. Learn what’s at stake and what’s being done to fix it.
10:15–10:35 AM | This Shouldn’t Have Run –Gary McCoy & Tal Hassner, Co-Founders, WEIR AI
In this eye-opening session, the co-founders reveal a selection of digital ads that never should’ve seen the light of day. Using forensic data and internal research, they unpack what went wrong—from unauthorized likeness use to AI-generated misinformation—and how WEIR AI flagged the issues. This is a wake-up call for platforms, advertisers, and creatives alike.
12:00–12:20PM | The Perfect Storm: AI, Identity, and the Regulatory Tsunami – Norberto Andrade
As AI-generated and real identities become more vulnerable to misuse, regulations worldwide are rising fast from California’s deepfake laws to the EU AI Act. In this session, Norberto Andrade explores the global ‘regulatory tsunami’ shaping digital identity and how organizations can turn compliance into competitive advantage with transparent practices and user-first design.
1:40–2:00 PM | The Cost of Doing Nothing – Rochelle Nadhiri, Communications & Policy Strategy Leader
From public backlash to shareholder pressure, Rochelle unpacks the hidden reputational risks brands face when they don’t address digital identity threats proactively.
3:30-3:50 PM | Image Rights in the Age of AI: Why We’re Not Protected and How We Can Be – Tal Hassner, Co-Founder, WEIR AI
While deepfakes highlight a modern threat, the simple act of misusing someone’s image has long been possible and long been done. Tal Hassner, an expert who developed face recognition systems used by global tech companies, explains that the technology to prevent this misuse is readily available and why it isn’t used. Learn about the regulatory hurdles that prevent its widespread adoption and discover how WEIR’s innovations are paving the way to secure our digital identities.
Thursday | The Solution | Claiming Control in the Digital Era
9:00–10:00 AM The Identity Roast (Coffee + What PIM Unlocks) | Gary McCoy & Tal Hassner, Co-Founders, WEIR AI
Start your morning with sharp insights and sharper coffee. Founders Gary McCoy, Tal Hassner and the WEIR AI team open the day with a candid, high-energy session exploring how identity theft became a design flaw in today’s digital ecosystem. Learn what’s at stake and what’s being done to fix it.
10:15–10:35 AM | The New Compliance Storm: Navigating AI, Biometrics, and Identity in a Regulated World – Norberto Andrade, Tech Policy Expert
Digital identity sits at the crossroads of policy, law, and technology. In this talk, Norberto Andrade unpacks how a new era of regulation is redefining the responsibilities of brands, platforms, and governments—and why Public Identity Management may be the blueprint for staying ahead.
12:00–12:20 PM | Watermarks, Trust, and the New Identity Infrastructure- Anthony Katsur, CEO, IAB Tech Lab
From C2PA watermarks to API frameworks for LLMs, Anthony reveals the tools shaping the next era of content integrity—and how WEIR AI fits into the fix.
2:00PM–2:20 PM | Fighting Exploitation with Integrity – Gary McCoy, Co-Founder, WEIR AI
Ethics isn’t a layer we add later; it’s built into every pixel. In this powerful talk, Gary McCoy shares the founding philosophy behind WEIR AI and why the future of technology must center on people, not profit. He makes the case for putting human dignity at the core of every data decision.
2:30–2:50 PM | When Comms Meets Code: Building Guardrails from Day One- Rochelle Nadhiri, Communications & Policy Strategy Leader
Why PR and policy leaders must be at the table when tech is being built—and how doing so future-proofs brand trust.
4:00–4:20 PM | Public Identity Management ™ is the New Privacy Standard—Gary McCoy & Tal Hassner, Co-Founders, WEIR AI
Why privacy isn’t enough and how identity ownership becomes the next frontier. McCoy and Hassner advocate for a new baseline standard where individuals have the tools and rights to manage their full digital selves through Public Identity Management™.
Meet the Speakers
We’re unveiling daily themes, guest speakers, and a full walkthrough of our Cannes Lions 2025 activation.
You won’t want to miss the conversations.
Find Us
Location: Lions Beach House, Space 1
The WEIR AI activation is located within the festival perimeter at
1 Boulevard de la Croisette, 06400 Cannes.
Guests can enter our space using Checkpoint #3
The Countdown is On
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The Croisette is calling—are you ready?
The energy. The people. The possibilities.
We’ll see you at Cannes Lions 2025.