Elvis Lives! New AI Law named after the King of Rock and Roll
Last Thursday, the Governor of Tennessee, Bill Law, signed the Elvis Act - which stands for Ensuring Likeness, Voice and Image Security Act - the first law of it’s kind to protect musicians from AI by adding penalties for copying a performer’s “voice” without permission. This law is directed at AI tools like Voicify.ai - which interestingly just changed its name to Jammable. This site allows users to voice their own compositions with “sound alike” versions of popular musical artists. The new law was met with cheers from the numerous musicians that call Nashville home, including country singer Luke Bryan who said “I’ve just gotten to where stuff comes in of my voice, on my phone, and I can’t tell it’s not me, so hopefully this will curb it, slow it down.”
I believe that the Elvis Act is the first of MANY that will be enacted across the country - probably starting in other entertainment centers such as Hollywood, CA, New York City, Austin, TX and Atlanta, GA.
The new law is not without some issues though. It has made some lawyers question whether it could actually limit some performances, including if an actor plays a well-known artist (like Elvis). And the definition of the Voice in the law centers around whether the recording is “readily identifiable and attributable to a particular individual.” If it is trying to trick the user that it really is the artist performing on the recording (when it is in fact AI), then it would be subject to prosecution. And some have asked whether or not tribute bands and impersonators would fall under this definition. And there certainly is no shortage of those.
One example of the type of AI music tools that the Elvis act is targeting is the fake Drake-Weeknd collaboration that appeared on Spotify last year. An 18 year old musician used an AI simulation to have Drake and the Weeknd sing his song, and that song then garnered over 30 million streams on Spotify before anyone from Drake and the Weeknd’s teams noticed.
I decided to see what would happen if I asked ChatGPT’s DALLE-3 tool to create an image of an AI version of Elvis. I guess they know that the law was just passed, because here is how ChatGPT responded:
Very interesting!!
I believe that we will see more and more of this type of legislation this year, possibly leading to some federal level guidance on it. Hollywood actors have been fighting for similar legislation, which was a part of their recent strike demands.
What do you think?