Heavy-Handed Legislation Targets AI-Generated Replicas of Voices and Images
Artificial intelligence has a lot of people either excited or worried. In the latter camp are creative professionals who fear that technology might replace their images, voices, and talents with exact replicas that show up sober for work and don’t throw tantrums. Always prepared to capitalize on concerns, members of Congress propose legislation to create a new intellectual property claim in digital representations of real people. Of course, the bill goes further, mandating censorship of digital replicas and regulating technology capable of producing them.
A Right to Your Voice and Image
“Nobody—whether they’re Tom Hanks or an 8th grader just trying to be a kid—should worry about someone stealing their voice and likeness,” huffed Sen. Chris Coons (D–Del.) upon the introduction of this year’s version of the Nurture Originals, Foster Art and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act. “Incredible technology like AI can help us push the limits of human creativity, but only if we protect Americans from those who would use it to harm our communities.”
Coons went on to boast that the bill, which has bipartisan backing, also enjoys the support of “leaders in the entertainment industry, the labor community, and firms at the cutting edge of AI technology.” Mention of the entertainment industry is important here, since AI and replication of human likenesses were major issues during the 2023 Hollywood strike.
“If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble, we are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines,” Fran Drescher, president of actors’ union SAG-AFTRA, said at the time.
This isn’t the first attempt to regulate AI-generated likenesses. Similar bipartisan 2023 bills, including an earlier version of NO FAKES, drew complaints from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) that they allowed little room for fair use.
Fair Use Fears
“NO FAKES explicitly carves out digital replicas that are used in documentaries or docudramas, or for purpose
Article from Reason.com
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