New York Bill to Protect Actors From AI Voice and Likeness Replicas Passes Assembly

“[These are] the most essential parts of who we are and the work we do,” SAG’s Rebecca Damon says of the Digital Contracts Act

SAG-AFTRA logo

A law that would protect actors’ voices and likenesses from being copied or used without permission in New York state passed its assembly Friday morning.

The Digital Replica Contracts Act, which was previously approved unanimously in the New York State Senate, comes after Scarlett Johansson alleged that OpenAI created an AI voice that was too close to her own. The “Black Widow” star had turned down a request to provide a voice for ChatGPT’s app, but was unpleasantly surprised to see the release of the voice “Sky” which was marketed by its CEO using the name of Johansson’s acclaimed film about near-future AI, “Her.”

Comments