Yesterday, the U.S. Senator and Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) announced a new bipartisan bill to protect voice and likeness of actors, performers, and individuals from AI-Generated Replicas, titled Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act.
While I don’t agree with Senator Coon’s statement on AI, saying Generative AI Offers Fun, Artistic Opportunities, the NO FAKES Act aims to prohibit the use of individuals’ digitally replicated voices and likenesses or appearances without their consent.
The bill proposes that those who create and share a replication of an individual for performances in an audiovisual or sound recording without that individual’s consent would be liable for damages caused by the replication. The draft bill stated there would be exclusions for uses for the replication of First Amendment-protected works that included sports broadcasts, documentaries, biographical works, or for purposes of comment, criticism, or parody, among others.
SAG-AFTRA issued a statement after the announcement was made, sharing not only praise for the legislation but also thanking the senators for driving the NO FAKES Act, and for spearheading this urgent and important effort. The SAG-AFTRA President, Fran Drescher, and the SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland also commented on the new legislation:
“A performer’s voice and their appearance are all part of their unique essence, and it’s not ok when those are used without their permission. Consent is key, and I’m grateful that Sens. Coons, Blackburn, Klobuchar, and Tillis are working to give performers recourse and providing tools to remove harmful material.”
Fran Drescher, SAG-AFTRA President
“The explosion in popularity and capability of generative artificial intelligence has flooded the internet with AI-created songs, videos, and voice recordings which exploit the voices and likenesses of our members without consent or compensation, for our members, their voice and likeness is their livelihood. They spend a lifetime improving their talent and building their value. It is outrageous to think someone can undermine that value with a few prompts and clicks on a keyboard. Thank you to Sens. Coons, Blackburn, Klobuchar, and Tillis for spearheading this urgent and important effort.”
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator
Audiovisual content using AI-replicated or synthesized voices or appearances of famous performers has flooded platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Recently, there have been cases where many have been designed to emulate performances of an actor’s specific performances. Actors such as Allegra Clark, Erica Lindbeck, Richard Epcar, and many more have vocally opposed such replications done against their consent.
AI has been one of the main focus points in the recent strikes involving the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA asked for protection against and limitations on those industries’ use of AI.
Source: Senator Chris Coons’ Press Release, SAG-AFTRA
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