In 2023 the US Copyright Office launched a broad initiative to study how copyright law should respond to generative AI, gathering more than 10,000 public comments. The result is a multi-part report titled “Copyright and Artificial Intelligence.” Part 1, released on July 31, 2024, addressed “digital replicas” - highly realistic AI-generated imitations of a real person’s voice, face, or likeness, the technology behind voice clones and deepfakes.
The report concluded that existing legal tools - a patchwork of state right-of-publicity laws, defamation, and the federal Lanham Act - are inadequate to address the harms that convincing AI replicas now make easy, from fraudulent robocalls in a politician’s voice to nonconsensual intimate imagery and unauthorized digital performances by actors and musicians. The Office recommended that Congress enact a new federal law establishing a right to protect against the unauthorized creation and distribution of digital replicas. It set out principles for such a law: it should cover all individuals (not just celebrities), apply to realistic replicas, require some form of consent, and balance protection against First Amendment free-speech concerns.
This recommendation directly informed legislative proposals such as the NO FAKES Act and complemented state efforts like Tennessee’s ELVIS Act.
Why business readers should care: any organization that uses AI-generated voices, avatars, or likenesses - in advertising, customer service, or entertainment - faces a tightening legal landscape. The Copyright Office signaled that a federal digital-replica right is coming, which would create clear liability for using someone’s likeness without permission.