Courts and Legislators Address the Right of Publicity in the Age of AI

The creative promise of generative artificial intelligence (“GenAI or “AI”) is tremendous. Irrespective of artistic talent, any user can enter a text prompt into an AI tool and generate a new visual or audio work. Such AI tools also allow for the creation of outputs that impersonate the voice, image, or other likeness of individuals. Currently, no federal “right of publicity” exists in the United States protecting an individual’s name, likeness, or other recognizable aspects of one’s persona from commercial misappropriation (such as use in advertising). A majority of states, however, recognize such a right of publicity. These state laws typically contain carveouts to protect expressive speech under the First Amendment, such as for artistic expression in film and TV.

In a recent case, Main Sequence Ltd. v. Dudesy, LLC, the estate of late stand-up comedian George Carlin sued a podcast company right of publicity violations and copyright infringement after the company published an AI-generated comedy special allegedly impersonating Carlin’s voice, likeness, and comedic style. Although the parties recently settled the case, the issues raised in this lawsuit remain highly relevant to ongoing policy discussions and legislative efforts to address the use of AI to impersonate the voice, image, or other likeness of individuals.

Read more on Main Sequence Ltd.v. Dudesy, LLC here.