The ELVIS Act was signed into law by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Thursday (March 21) in an attempt to shield musicians against voice clones and deep fakes created without authorization using artificial intelligence.
The Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act, the full name of the bill, amends the state's Protection of Personal Rights law, which secures a person's "name, photograph, or likeness" to include safeguards against misuse of artificial intelligence for the voices of artists.
As he signed the law, which is being referred to as "first-of-its-kind legislation," Lee was flanked by members of the legislative branch as well as country music artists Luke Bryan and Chris Janson at the bar Robert's Western World in Nashville.
"From Beale Street to Broadway, to Bristol and beyond, Tennessee is known for our rich artistic heritage that tells the story of our great state," said Lee, per a press release. "As the technology landscape evolves with artificial intelligence, I thank the General Assembly for its partnership in creating legal protection for our best-in-class artists and songwriters."
Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, More Victims of AI Deepfakes
Many musicians have already been victimized by deepfakes.
Taylor Swift made news in late January when she became a target of deepfake photos created with artificial intelligence that contained graphic sexual content.
Swift's supporters promptly reported the offensive material that was making the rounds on social media, with X blocking Swift searches for a while.
It wasn't the first instance of this kind of AI assault; women and girls have previously experienced it all across the world. However, Swift's celebrity status helped bring the matter to the public's attention, and the incident increased calls for government intervention.
Earlier, after witnessing a deepfake video of herself with Tom Holland, Nicki Minaj declared that she wanted to erase the "whole internet."
A fictitious video made the rounds in which Minaj, 40, appears to be sleeping with Holland, even though she's actually married to Kenny Petty.
This new bill also attempts to prevent artists from being the subject of AI-powered music. Previously, Ghostwriter, an anonymous music creator, released the AI-powered song, "Whiplash," which mimics rappers Travis Scott and 21 Savage.
Before the videos were removed from TikTok, Ghostwriter's AI Drake and The Weeknd song "Heart on My Sleeve" and the AI Rihanna and Bad Bunny song "Por Qué" received millions of views.
The Ghostwriter even entered "Heart on My Sleeve" for consideration for a Grammy in 2023.
The Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. stated that the song was qualified for consideration because to human authorship credits. However, AI voices probably don't follow distribution guidelines.
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