Taylor Swift is taking authorized motion towards potential AI misuse by trademarking her voice and picture. The pop legend on Friday filed three trademark functions: two voice tracks and one picture, as reported earlier Monday by Selection.
The 2 trademark filings contain the vocal phrases “Hey, it is Taylor Swift” and “Hey, it is Taylor” and the picture submitting is of Swift holding a pink guitar held up by a black strap and sporting an iridescent bodysuit in entrance of a pink stage whereas on the Eras Tour.
As AI deepfakes proceed to unfold throughout the web, Swift’s transfer is not all that shocking. Being one of the vital well-known individuals alive, the singer has already handled a swath of AI-created forgeries, together with a faux endorsement of Donald Trump for president through the 2024 election cycle.
Swift would not be the one movie star to make such a transfer, as Matthew McConaughey trademarked his well-known “alright, alright, alright” phrase from the 1993 movie Dazed and Confused. McConaughey has various views on what he’d prefer to see from AI.
Swift’s filings caught the eye of trademark legal professional Josh Gerben, who wrote in a weblog put up that trademarking a star’s spoken voice hasn’t been examined in courtroom earlier than. Music artists sometimes use copyright to guard their music.
“However AI applied sciences now enable customers to generate fully new content material that mimics an artist’s voice with out copying an current recording, creating a spot that emblems could assist fill,” Gerben wrote.
Gebern additionally mentioned that the trademark will be the subsequent weapon for celebrities to combat towards AI. The legal professional defined that having a trademark “stops something that’s confusingly much like the registered trademark.”
Gerben says the “authorized theories” behind Swift’s filings are sturdy and that he seems to be ahead to the case when she sues AI platforms straight.
Swift did not instantly reply to a request for remark via her publicist.
