A bill introduced in the Senate would establish a federal right in voice and likeness. Its purpose is protect against unauthorized use of digital replicas in audiovisual works and sound recordings.
The Nurture Originals, Foster Art and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act is sponsored by Sens. Marsha Blackburn, Thom Tillis, Chris Coons and Amy Klobuchar, two Republicans and two Democrats.
They had released a draft of the bill last fall. Blackburn said then, “Songwriters, actors and our incredibly talented creative community deserve the right to own their name, image and likeness (NIL). This legislation is a good first step in protecting our creative community, preventing AI models from stealing someone’s NIL, and ensuring that those rights are given primary consideration under the law.”
SAG-AFTRA supports the bill. President Fran Drescher said in a press release, “Game over A.I. fraudsters! Enshrining protections against unauthorized digital replicas as a federal intellectual property right will keep us all protected in this brave new world.”
National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said, “Without a federal property right over our voices and likenesses, we cannot control what others make us do or say by using A.I. generated digital replicas of us without our consent.”
The union said the legislation is supported “by the entire entertainment industry landscape, from studios and major record labels to unions and artist advocacy groups.”
According to a summary of the bill on the website of Sen. Coons, the bill would hold individuals or companies liable if they produce an unauthorized digital replica of an individual in a performance; hold platforms liable for hosting an unauthorized digital replica if the platform has actual knowledge of the fact that the replica was not authorized by the individual depicted; exclude certain digital replicas from coverage based on recognized First Amendment protections; and largely preempt state laws addressing digital replicas to create a workable national standard.
The bill was the subject of a subcommittee hearing in the spring. The website ipwatchdog.com quoted an executive of the Motion Picture Association saying it would “take very careful drafting to accomplish the bill’s goals without inadvertently chilling or even prohibiting constitutional uses of technology to enhance storytelling.”
