As artificial intelligence continues to creep into daily life – for better or worse, depending on the situation and who’s controlling it – a bipartisan group of Mississippi lawmakers is looking to protect not only the rights of artists but also any individuals when it comes to their names, likenesses, and voices being used by AI and other people without permission.
Senate Bill 2046, led by Democratic Sen. Bradford Blackmon, establishes liability for any entity or person that uses another’s name, likeness, or voice for unauthorized distribution. It aims to prevent the creation and distribution of personalized cloning devices that replicate an individual’s voice or likeness without consent; the spread of unauthorized digital voice replicas or digital depictions of individuals; and commercial use of an individual’s name, likeness, or voice without obtaining prior written consent.
The bill would make way for any victim to sue the entity or person that uses their name, likeness, or voice. It has Republican backing from co-authors Sens. Daniel Sparks, Jeremy England, and Scott DeLano. Democratic Sens. Juan Barnett, Reginald Jackson, and Justin Pope are also co-authors.
Bobby Rush, a Grammy-winning blues artist who calls Mississippi home, was at the state capitol in Jackson on Tuesday to advocate for the bill. Before taking the House floor for an impromptu performance, he told representatives that it would protect both him and others of status, such as lawmakers themselves.
“First of all, thank you for being kind to me. Mr. Blackmon is here today to introduce a bill that’s going to be good for the people behind me. Someone is trying to take my face and my likeness and my music from me,” Rush said.
In November, Academy Award-winning actor and Mississippi native Morgan Freeman took legal action against companies he accuses of using AI to replicate his signature voice without permission, calling the practice both deceptive and exploitative.
Blackmon’s bill would also protect ordinary citizens from their names, likenesses, and voices from being used. During a press conference, he used the example of schools, where students have used AI to depict others doing or saying something they did not.
“We’ve seen several cases where children in our elementary schools, our middle schools, our high schools, and our colleges have had their likenesses digitally altered in videos or images and often with damaging and long-lasting effects,” Blackmon said. “So, this is not theoretical. This is real kids in real classrooms facing real consequences for fake content.”