HUMAN ARTISTRY CAMPAIGN ENDORSES
NO FAKES ACT
Landmark Bipartisan Bill Introduced by Senators Coons, Blackburn, Klobuchar and Tillis Would Create New Right for Use of Voice and Visual Likeness in Digital Replicas
Bill Empowers Artists, Voice Actors, and Individual Victims to Fight Back Against AI Deepfakes and Voice Clones
WASHINGTON, DC (July 31, 2024) – The Human Artistry Campaign today announced its support of the “Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act of 2024” (“NO FAKES Act”) – landmark legislation creating an enforceable new federal intellectual property right allowing victims of nonconsensual deepfakes and voice clones to have them quickly taken down and recover damages.
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Building off the original NO FAKES discussion draft released last October and introduced in the US Senate today by Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), the bill sets a strong federal baseline protecting all Americans from the invasive AI-generated deepfakes flooding digital platforms today. From young students bullied by nonconsensual sexually explicit replicas of their likenesses to recording artists and performers replicated to sing or perform in expressive works they never created or consented to, the NO FAKES Act provides a powerful and much needed new weapon in the fight to protect people’s images and voices from being stolen, cloned, and misused.
Taking a thoughtful, measured approach, the legislation preserves existing state causes of action and rights of publicity, including Tennessee’s groundbreaking ELVIS Act. It also contains carefully calibrated exceptions to protect the public’s genuine interest in free speech, open discourse, and creative storytelling – without trampling the underlying need for real, enforceable protection against the vast range of invasive and harmful deepfakes and voice clones.
With the introduction of the Senate NO FAKES Act today and the introduction of the Salazar-Dean No AI FRAUD Act in the House of Representatives earlier this year, there is now bipartisan, bicameral momentum to pass these critical protections into federal law.
“The Human Artistry Campaign applauds Senators Coons, Blackburn, Klobuchar and Tillis for crafting strong legislation establishing a fundamental right putting every American in control of their own voices and faces against a new onslaught of highly realistic voice clones and deepfakes. The NO FAKES Act will help protect people, culture and art – with clear protections and exceptions for the public interest and free speech.
We urge the full Senate to prioritize and pass this vital, bipartisan legislation. The abusive deepfake ecosystem online destroys more lives and generates more victims every day – Americans need these protections now."
Dr. Moiya McTier
Senior Advisor, Human Artistry Campaign
By establishing clear rules and requirements for licensing the new federal voice and image right, the NO FAKES Act will power innovation and responsible, pro-human uses of these powerful technologies while providing strong protections for artists, minors, and others regarding these rights. The NO FAKES Act is a strong step forward for American leadership that erects clear guardrails for AI and ensures real accountability for those who reject the path of responsibility and consent.
“Musicians form the foundation for recorded music, and their sounds and contributions must be protected. The NO FAKES ACT is an important step toward respecting the contributions of creators by preventing unfair exploitation by AI companies. We look forward to the enactment of this bill along with others that help professional musicians continue to make a living by contributing their unique human gifts to our culture and our economy.”
Tino Gagliardi
President, American Federation of Musicians
"In the context of digital replicas or AI policy more generally, ASCAP’s music creator members need Congress to put human beings first and enshrine transparency, consent, compensation, credit, and global consistency into law. We commend Sens. Coons, Blackburn, Klobuchar and Tillis for making progress to enact legislation that recognizes the value of human creativity to AI development.”
Elizabeth Matthews
CEO, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
“The No Fakes Act is a vital step in protecting individuals from unauthorized digital replicas by establishing clear intellectual property rights over their voice and likeness. It balances protection during one’s lifetime and extends posthumously to safeguard legacies. We are thrilled to see this bill introduced, as it will be an essential tool for protecting creative art in the AI age. The Act’s robust framework for liability and remedies, along with reasonable exclusions and safe harbor provisions, ensures creators maintain control over their digital identities while allowing for legitimate uses. We are committed to working with the bill’s authors to ensure this new right is accessible to artists of all levels of success and popularity.”
Richard Burgess
President & CEO, A2IM
"The Artist Rights Alliance applauds Sens. Coons, Blackburn, Klobuchar, and Tillis for introducing the NO FAKES bill to help stop the insidious use of unauthorized AI deepfakes and voice clones. Musicians rely on their voice and image for their very livelihoods and can ill afford to have their artistic and personal integrity violated by this abusive practice. No individual should have to live in fear of their likeness being exploited without consent, and the NO FAKES Act will help protect all of us from this predatory and unethical use of AI, a technology that holds so much promise when used responsibly.”
Jen Jacobsen
Executive Director, Artist Rights Alliance (ARA)
“We thank Senators Coons, Blackburn, Klobuchar, and Tillis for their AI policy leadership in combatting nonconsensual deepfakes and unauthorized digital replicas. This legislation prioritizes the rights and livelihoods of creators while ensuring crucial protections for free expression—it’s a major win for the public.”
Maria Pallante
President, Association of American Publishers
"Black Music Action Coalition is proud to support the NO FAKES Act. Together with some of the industry's top leaders, like RIAA, SAG-AFTRA, MAC, SONA, ARA and more, we hope to continue to protect and fight for the intellectual rights and visual likeness of the entertainment industry and prevent the threat of unfair replication."
Willie "Prophet" Stiggers
Co-Founder, Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC)
“Music creators have always embraced new technologies to help make their art, and the use of Generative AI tools will be no different. However, protections are needed to ensure that creators' intellectual property, voice, image, and likeness are not used without their permission. BMI is grateful that Senators Coons, Blackburn, Klobuchar, and Tillis recognize the importance of these protections and have taken action by introducing the NO FAKES Act. We look forward to working with them and our friends in the music community to protect our affiliates from the unethical use of AI.”
Mike O’Neill
President, BMI
“Our fundamental belief is that every person should be in control of the use of their name, image, likeness, voice, and body of work. We applaud Senators Coons, Blackburn, Klobuchar, and Tillis for creating this legislation, which is an important step in protecting artists and their IP rights from misuse.”
Bryan Lourd
CEO & Co-Chairman, Creative Artists Agency (CAA)
"Fans want to know that the artists we love are in full control of their likeness, their voice and their art. This bill will ensure that we are watching and listening to those artists, not computer-generated fakes."
Donald Cohen
Fan Alliance
“Independent music publishers fully support this bill, recognising it as another important step towards protecting artists' work and likeness during this time of seismic change in the cultural landscape. Given the rapid evolution of AI, it is vital that we continue to challenge the exploitation of creators and creative IP owners as we try to establish a more just and transparent equilibrium."
Annette Barrett
President, IMPF
"The Music Artists Coalition (MAC) welcomes the use of AI as a tool for music artists but is committed to protecting the rights of all people from AI abuses. We thank Senators Coons, Tillis, Klobuchar and Blackburn for having the foresight to introduce the NO FAKES Act which gives artists the tools to ward off digital fakes. We are proud to stand with the coalition of creators' advocates supporting NO FAKES."
Susan Genco
Board Member, Music Artists Coalition
"Music Workers Alliance wholeheartedly supports the No Fakes Act as an important first step in protecting all performers & musicians, featured or not, from the exploitation resulting from the unauthorized use of our creative expressions to train AI models."
Music Workers Alliance
“The NO FAKES Act is important legislation that will help ensure human creators maintain the rights to their voice and visual likeness. The bill introduced by Senators Blackburn, Coons, Tillis and Klobuchar also importantly protects existing state rights of actions such as those that exist in Tennessee under the ELVIS Act. We encourage other Senators to co-sponsor this bill as the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSA) continues to work to create guardrails around generative artificial intelligence to protect human intellectual property.”
Bart Herbison
Executive Director, Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI)
"The current global state of emerging tech makes it immensely difficult for voice actors to protect the rights to their voice, image, name, or likeness. Creating a national right of publicity and establishing voice as a property right would provide a basic level of protection and rights to biometric data that would allow for voice actors, and all Americans across the country, to take action when their voices are used without proper consent, control, or compensation. The National Association of Voice Actors gives our enthusiastic endorsement of the NO FAKES Act.”
Tim Friedlander & Carin Gilfry
Co-Founders, National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA)
“There is a long and troubling history of artist exploitation in the music industry and now their likeness is under threat. We applaud the proactive NO FAKES Act and thank Senators Coons, Tillis, Klobuchar, and Blackburn, along with our advocacy partners, for their efforts to advance this vital legislation. It is crucial to address this now to ensure a prosperous future for music creators. NITO is committed to seeing this bill passed through Congress.”
Nathaniel Marrow
Managing Director, National Independent Talent Organization
"The National Music Council of the United States, the umbrella organization for US music creator, copyright owner and educator groups, is gratified by the forward progress of the NO FAKES Act. This bill is an important step in a larger legislative movement to protect American creators and sustain American musical culture in the age of currently unregulated generative artificial intelligence."
Charles Sanders
Chair, National Music Council of the United States
“We greatly appreciate the leadership of Senators Coons, Blackburn, Klobuchar, and Tillis on this critical legislation to protect the integrity of music creators. Not only will the NO FAKES Act of 2024 prevent AI fakes, it will give individuals critical recourse when their identities are exploited without their consent. AI presents incredible opportunities for songwriters and artists, however putting parameters around unauthorized replicas is essential to a healthy music marketplace.”
David Israelite
President & CEO, National Music Publishers' Association
“OVU, Organización de Voces Unidas, who works to establish the most relevant global community of Hispanic voice artists, providing each member with a competitive edge in their development and professional excellence, with members from all over Latin America and the US, supports the NO FAKES Act. We are not against AI, it is just a tool, the problem is the lack of transparency and abuse of its implementation by some unscrupulous companies.”
Memo Sauceda
President, Organización de Voces Unidas (OVU)
“The protections granted in the NO FAKES Act are monumental for the creative community and for all artists fighting to retain and control the rights to their likeness. We thank Senators Coons, Blackburn, Klobuchar, and Tillis for introducing this Act and for recognizing the importance these protections offer the production music community.”
Morgan McKnight
Executive Director, Production Music Association
"The Board of Directors and the membership of the Professional Audiobook Narrators Association enthusiastically support the efforts of Senators Chris Coons, Marsha Blackburn, Amy Klobuchar, and Thom Tillis in their work to protect the vocal likenesses of all Americans."
"The Recording Academy thanks Senators Coons, Blackburn, Klobuchar and Tillis for their unwavering leadership in protecting artists, creators, and all individuals. The NO FAKES Act is a major step forward in our fight to ensure that AI is used ethically and equitably to enhance creativity, not to exploit or replace it. This legislation will provide needed certainty and clarity to all stakeholders, and we urge the Senate to act quickly to pass it."
Harvey Mason jr.
CEO, Recording Academy
"As the music community embraces pro-artist, human-first uses of AI, the NO FAKES Act represents a huge step forward for smart, effective, guardrails against irresponsible and unethical uses of these technologies. By returning to first principles and creating an enforceable new intellectual property right, the legislation lays the foundation for free market negotiations that will propel both innovation and safety forward in AI, not just for artists but for everyone. RIAA extends its deepest thanks to Senators Coons, Blackburn, Klobuchar, and Tillis and their teams for their persistent leadership in bringing stakeholders together to support this balanced, thoughtful, forward-looking legislation.”
Mitch Glazier
Chairman & CEO, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
“In the coming decade, legislation like the NO FAKES ACT is desperately needed to protect Americans from being victimized by technology that can replicate our image and voice. Thank you Sens. Blackburn, Coons, Klobuchar and Tillis for defending human rights by introducing the NO FAKES Act. People and communities must be protected in the face of innovation.”
Fran Drescher
President, SAG-AFTRA
“The exponential proliferation of artificial intelligence technologies that enable rapid and realistic fakes of voices and likenesses makes legislation like the NO FAKES Act essential for preserving individuals’ control over the use of their faces and voices At SAG-AFTRA, we applaud Sens. Blackburn, Coons, Klobuchar and Tillis for introducing this vital legislation.”
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland
National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator, SAG-AFTRA
“SESAC Music Group supports the NO FAKES Act which provides strong new protections against harmful deepfakes and voice clones. Technology should not be used to facilitate the unauthorized and uncompensated exploitation of the voice or likeness of writer performers and artists. This bill is an important step forward in protecting their rights and ensuring that they can continue to make a living practicing their craft. We applaud the bipartisan leadership of Senators Coons, Blackburn, Klobuchar, and Tillis developing and introducing this vital legislation.”
John Josephson
Chairman & CEO, SESAC Music Group
“Creators and composers need a clear and balanced regulatory framework regarding the use of AI technologies, so that it is developed as a tool to enhance human creativity, but not to replace it, and that prevents to AI developers the use of creators ´works without permission or compensation.” – “Los creadores y compositores necesitamos un marco legal claro y conciso en relación con el uso de tecnologías de IA, para que ésta se desarrolle como una herramienta que permita mejorar la creatividad humana, pero no para reemplazarla; y que impida a los desarrolladores de IA usar la obra de los creadores sin permiso ni compensación.”
Sociedad Española de Derechos de Autor (SEDA)
"Protecting the integrity of music creators has never been more imperative. Songwriters of North America thanks Senators Coons, Tillis, Kloubuchar and Blackburn, as well as our advocacy partners, for their efforts to ensure that the true creators of musical works are recognized for their contributions, preventing the exploitation and misrepresentation of their original art."
Michelle Lewis
CEO, Songwriters of North America (SONA)
“The proliferation of unauthorized generative AI continues to threaten the music industry and artists who watch without recourse as their creative works are being used without their consent, credit, or compensation. The updated and improved version of the NO FAKES Act will create a federal property right for likeness and voice while also ensuring that unauthorized replicas are removed promptly upon demand through an effective notice-and-takedown system. In short, NO FAKES will restore balance by putting the power back in the hands of artists, where it rightfully belongs.”
Mike Huppe
President & CEO, SoundExchange
"We must be relentless in protecting artists' rights. Legislation like the No Fakes Act is a positive step in ensuring AI is used responsibly as we explore its potential."
Jeremy Zimmer
CEO, United Talent Agency (UTA)
“We view technology as a complement, not a substitute for human artistry. Guardrails must be put into place that ensure continued innovation while protecting our clients’ name, image, likeness and voice. We thank Senators Coons, Blackburn, Tillis, and Klobuchar for recognizing the urgency of this issue, and will continue to work with them to ensure all artists and our clients remain at the center of this vital legislation.”
Christian Muirhead
Co-Chairman, WME
"The Writers Guild of America West is proud to stand with SAG-AFTRA in strong support of the bipartisan Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act, or NO FAKES Act. It is crucial that legislators act to protect artists from Artificial Intelligence theft of their image, voice or likeness."
Meredith Stiehm
President, Writers Guild of America West (WGAW)