Journal Article

Protecting Artists Against AI Fakes

Johnson, Douglas L

2024

Overview

Copyright law has rightfully given some direction to Al regulation, specifically in the context of content ingestion, but as in the case of \"Heart on My Sleeve,\" the output of content that \"sounds like\" an artist but is notably not an actual performance by the artist is not in violation of any copyright laws. The \"Fake Drake\" song is representative of some of the doctrinal tension between the right of publicity and copyright law, the latter of which generally permits intentionally imitative performances under 17 U.S.C. § 114(b).1 Imitations, however, require an \"independent fixation\" of sounds, whereas Al programs derive their output from the ingestion of a performer's actual voice, raising novel questions regarding § 114(b)'s application.2 Similarly, while copyright law generally preempts state law claims that attempt to prohibit the reuse of one lawfully fixed copyrighted work within another,3 it can hardly be said that vocal synthesizers, which create output substantially dissimilar to the ingested works in everything but vocal tone, are being charged with mere reproduction of an artist's voice as embodied in their recordings.4 It would thus be a mistake to assume that record labels, simply by dint of controlling certain copyrighted works implicated in a prospective licensee's activities, necessarily have the authority to bargain away the personal rights of the artists on their rosters who created those works. Eighteen months of negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and major video game studios have recently stalled over Al.

• Publisher: American Bar Association
• Subject: Actors / Artificial intelligence / Bootlegging / Consent / Copyright / Litigation / Music industry / Musical performances / Record labels / State laws / Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye)