States move to protect recording artists from AI-generated likenesses

While many states were focused this past legislative session on creating regulatory frameworks or guardrails around the development and use of artificial intelligence, Tennessee had a different focus when it passed the ELVIS Act in February. 

The first-in-the-nation law, which prohibits people from using AI to mimic a person’s voice without their permission, was aimed at protecting one of the Volunteer State’s biggest industries.

The music industry, Tennessee estimates, supports more than 60,000 jobs and contributes $5.8 billion to its gross domestic product. Given the importance of music to the state’s identity and economy, state leaders argued that it made sense to protect that sector first.

“While we support the responsible advancement of this technology, we must ensure we do not threaten the future livelihood of an entire industry,” House Majority Leader William Lamberth said at the bill signing ceremony. “This legislation is an important step in maintaining public trust and advancing ongoing efforts to protect and inform Tennessee consumers.” 

Now other states are moving to protect their biggest industries from the threat of AI. States like California and Illinois are also considering legislation that would protect an artist’s name, image and likeness. 

Both states have enormous workforces in the movie and television industry worth millions of dollars apiece in economic impact. They worry that AI could undercut that through the use of the technology in script writing and also in recreating or mimicking a performing artist’s voice and likeness.

To get ahead of any upheaval to its film and TV industries, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker this month signed two pieces of legislation designed to protect artists and music studios if their likenesses or materials are stolen via AI. 

One law amends the state’s Right of Publicity Act to protect against the unauthorized use of so-called digital replicas, which the law defines as “a newly created, electronic representation of the voice, image or likeness of an actual individual created using a computer, algorithm, software, tool, artificial intelligence or other technology.”

The law, which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2025, mandates that people may not “knowingly distribute, transmit or make available to the general public” audio or videos that contain an “unauthorized digital replica.”

The other Illinois law creates a private right of action for artists and music studios to sue if digital replicas are made available publicly without their authorization.

“In the last few years, we have seen an explosion of AI tools and AI-generated content, often created and distributed without authorization,” Illinois Sen. Mary Edly-Allen, who sponsored both bills, said in a statement. “While AI is a powerful tool with the potential to do much good, guardrails are necessary to protect artists and the general public.”

As with many industries, recording artists are concerned about what the growth of AI could mean. In a statement released by Edly-Allen’s office, Dani Deahl, a DJ, music producer and Chicago Chapter Recording Academy trustee, said “every song I make is a piece of my soul,” and that the new law is “a shield protecting that soul from being mimicked and monetized by unauthorized AI.”

The laws build on Illinois’ pioneering effort to protect “kidfluencers.” This time last year, Pritzker signed a law requiring parents to set aside young social media influencers’ earnings.

Illinois’ legislation follows Tennessee’s, which is an update to a law that has been on the books since the 1980s. Back then, the state moved to protect an artist’s name, image and likeness amid wranglings in court with the late Elvis Presley’s estate over how his name and likeness could be used commercially after his 1977 death.

Tennessee’s law may also have inspired a bipartisan coalition of U.S. senators to introduce a proposed federal law dubbed the NO FAKES Act last month.

California has bills on AI pending too, in a bid to protect its movie industry. One bill has already passed the California Assembly. In partnership with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, it would look to protect performers like voice actors and others from the use of digital replicas, similar to the recent collective bargaining agreement that protects actors from AI.

Another bill in California moving through the state senate would protect deceased celebrities’ name, image and likeness from exploitation by digital replicas in the same way that the state protects living celebrities. Proponents argue that such protections avoid situations where “content creators can use as they see fit a bastardized ghost of a deceased celebrity at the expense of the celebrity’s reputation and the family’s financial, privacy and dignitary interests.”