No Fakes Act, Bill Meant To Curb Unauthorized Digital Replicas, Clears Senate Judiciary Committee

A bill to curb the use of unauthorized AI deepfakes has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee, significant movement for a top legislative priority for the entertainment industry this year.

The legislation passed the committee unanimously by voice vote on Thursday, although three Republican senators — Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Eric Schmitt — raised First Amendment concerns.

The bill is meant to address the proliferation of unauthorized “deepfakes,” as a number of performers have testified on Capitol Hill about the use of their voice and likeness.

The legislation gives individuals the right to authorize the use of their voice and likeness in digital replication. The digital replication right does not expire at a person’s death, and can be transferred and licensed by heirs, executors and others. That post-mortem right, though, terminates no longer than 70 years after an individual’s passing.

The bill includes exclusions for news, documentary and sports, as well biographical works, or for purposes of comment, criticism, or parody, among others.

The bill has broad support among entertainment industry guilds and unions, studios and record labels, as well as tech companies OpenAI and Google/YouTube. A revised version of the bill was intriduced last month that includes a “counter-notice” procedure to challenge removals of material, and an exemption for certain work at libraries, archives, and research institutions.

Mitch Glazier, chairman and CEO of the RIAA, said in a statement, “We are encouraged by today’s passage in the Senate Judiciary Committee and look forward to the bill’s passage into law later this year.”

At the markup on Thursday, Cruz said that he had concerns in particular “that we are protecting satire, which is an important part of speech. He cited Spencer Pratt’s recent mayoral campaign in Los Angeles, in which the reality star used AI generated images of Mayor Karen Bass, among others, in scatthing advertisements. Cruz said that he thought Pratt’s videos “were hysterical, and I think are a good example of what should be protected and not fall within a bill like this.” Pratt placed third in the mayoral primary, falling short of making the November runoff.

A companion bill was introduced in the House. The lawmakers sponsoring the legislation included Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), as well as Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) and Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA).

Another sponsor, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), said that the “rapid advancement of generative AI has brought incredible innovation, but it’s also unleashed a wave of unauthorized exploitation. We see this in the voices and visual likenesses of individuals, from celebrities to children being replicated and weaponized without their permission, sometimes without their knowledge.”

More to come.