NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Wednesday introduced new legislation aimed at protecting songwriters, performers and other music industry professionals from the potential dangers of artificial intelligence. Announced.
Lee made the announcement while standing in the middle of Nashville's famous RCA Studio A, where legends like Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Charley Pride have recorded. It's packed with top music industry leaders, songwriters and members of Congress, all keen to celebrate the state's rich musical history while sounding the alarm about the threats posed by AI.
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“This law makes Tennessee the first state in the nation to protect the voices of artists,” Lee said. “And we hope it becomes a blueprint for this country.”
The bill comes as state and federal lawmakers across the country grapple with the challenge of curbing the dangers of AI. The bill has not been formally introduced in the Tennessee General Assembly, and the proposal text has not yet been publicly distributed.
Lee said he wants to ensure that AI tools cannot replicate an artist's voice without the artist's consent. That includes looking at one of the state's most iconic residents: Elvis Presley.
Presley's death in 1977 sparked a long and controversial legal battle over the unauthorized use of his name and likeness, as many argued that when a celebrity dies, their name and image become public domain.
However, by 1984, the Tennessee General Assembly passed the Personal Rights Protection Act, ensuring that personality rights do not end at death and can be inherited by others. The law states that “personal rights… constitute property rights, may be freely transferred and licensed, and do not expire upon the death of the protected individual.”
Although this move was primarily seen as important in protecting Presley's estate, it has since been praised for protecting the names, photographs, and likenesses of every public figure in Tennessee in the decades since.
It was also monumental in that it preserved names, photographs, and likenesses as property rights rather than publicity rights. Currently, only two other states, New York and California, have similar protections, making it easier to seek damages in court.
However, no state currently has enacted protections for voice similarity. And as AI poses a threat to nearly every industry, artists and other creators are increasingly demanding greater protection for new AI tools that create images, music, video, and text.
“If a machine can take something from someone's life or experience and recreate it without permission, or take someone's voice and use it without permission, then call it what you will. That's wrong,” said the four-time Grammy. said the award winner. Nominated for songwriter Jamie Moore.
The ultimate goal is for AI tools to use an artist's song or voice to learn how to spit out the song itself without the artist's permission, said Bart Harbison, executive director of the International Nashville Songwriters Association. The idea is to avoid using it by scraping it. Another important aspect is fighting for proper payment.
Harbison said he has seen the generative AI tool progress from writing clunky songs last February to spitting out moving and emotional songs in October.
“It's extraordinarily scary that it can be done right now. It's all people can talk about in the writers' room,” he said.
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As many state legislatures resume business this month, other AI-related bills are expected to take effect across the country. In California, a lawmaker has already proposed a bill that would require the state to establish safety, privacy, and nondiscrimination standards for generative AI tools and services. These standards will ultimately be used as qualifications for future state contracts. Another proposal has been put forward to establish a national research center to further study the technology.
At the federal level, the U.S. Copyright Office is considering whether to enact copyright reform in response to generative AI. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced a bill called the Artificial Intelligence Fake Replicas and Unauthorized Reproduction Act of 2024. Supporters say the bill will combat AI deepfakes, voice cloning and other harmful digital human impersonations.
