Photo: Andreas Dress

Codification of personality rights to prevent misuse of voices and faces on social media

May 28, 2024 | Analysis

28. May 2024

Artists and celebrities are increasingly experiencing their face, voice and identity being copied and misused in AI-generated content on social media. The Rights Alliance supports the fact that the Minister of Culture will now investigate whether imitation protection can be implemented in copyright law.

Across social media, public figures are unwittingly adding their voice and face to content created with artificial intelligence. This trend is deeply alarming for the victims, who suffer a serious violation of their integrity, identity and profession. Therefore, it is gratifying that the Minister of Culture, Jakob Engel-Schmidt, will look into whether imitation protection can be written into copyright law.

CEO of the Rights Alliance, Maria Fredenslund, says:

“We are pleased that the Minister of Culture is taking the issue seriously and will now investigate the possibilities of implementing imitation protection in copyright law. It is important that we get legislation that obliges tech companies to take effective action against infringement and that broadly covers those who are exposed to unauthorized sharing of their identity. We look forward to the discussions on how the legislation ensures the right opportunities to tackle the misuse of voices and faces.”

The personality right must oblige tech to take action

The debate at Christiansborg has long revolved around whether deepfakes should be banned. But the Minister of Culture’s announcement came after actor David Bateson, the voice of the computer game Hitman, shared in Politiken that voice cloning and general developments in artificial intelligence have meant that his iconic voice can no longer support him.

The Rights Alliance has succeeded in removing voice clones of David Bateson from social media. However, the process is time-consuming and opaque, as none of the online platforms have developed processes or allocated resources to remove infringing content.

Today, privacy law is based on so-called “unwritten legal principles” that have been developed over many years of legal practice. But unwritten legal principles do not match today’s need for effective enforcement of illegal content on online platforms, as the big tech companies do not handle this kind of law in their systems. Codification of privacy law must therefore oblige tech companies to effectively address and minimize the damage caused by the misuse of faces and voices on their platforms.

Familiar faces and voices are sought after

Bateson’s story is far from unique, as actors, politicians, musicians, TV hosts and more face serious consequences because of wrongful sharing of their persona. Recently, it was revealed that OpenAI used Scarlett Johansson’s voice without her permission in their newly launched AI service ChatGPT4o. This is despite the actress rejecting several attempts by OpenAI to get her permission to use her voice.

Because reputable faces and voices are coveted material, not only on social media, but also among AI giants. Therefore, codifying the right to privacy is a crucial step to ensure that everyone has exclusive control over the use of their own image and voice.

Also read: The Danish Rights Alliance appointed to the Ministry of Culture’s expert group on copyright and artificial intelligence