The Danish government has announced plans to pass a new law that will make it easier for people to protect their voice and likeness from being used in AI deepfakes.
Coming just before Denmark takes over the Presidency of the European Union tomorrow, Danish ministers seem to hope that the proposals could influence similar policies elsewhere in Europe, with its presidency stint providing a forum to share its ideas across the EU.
AI that can imitate people’s voice and likeness has rapidly become very sophisticated and, as a result “technology has outpaced legislation”, Danish Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt told CNN on Friday. He added that we shouldn’t accept “a situation where human beings can be run through a digital copy machine and misused for all sorts of purposes”.
The proposed new rights, which would be achieved via an amendment to Danish copyright law, would allow performers, public figures and people generally to demand the removal of any AI-generated content that exploits their voice or likeness without permission. Digital platforms and tech companies that fail to remove such content would ultimately face fines.
However, Engel-Schmidt admitted that those digital platforms and tech companies are yet to be consulted about the proposed legal reforms, but said that he was “looking forward” to entering into discussions with them, adding, somewhat optimistically, “I think it’s in their interest as well to make AI work for humanity, not against artists, popular figures and ordinary people”.
There has been lots of debate across the world about how performers and people more generally can stop their voice and likeness from being exploited in AI-generated deepfakes. There are, of course, ethical reasons for ensuring people have that control. Though, for performers and public figures, having clearer rights will also make it easier to monetise endorsed AI uses of likeness and voice.
A lot of attention has fallen onto so-called ‘personality’ or ‘publicity rights’, which traditionally allow people to control the use of their image or identity.
However, it remains unclear exactly how those rights would work when it comes to AI. This is further complicated by the fact that the nature and scope of personality and publicity rights differs around the world, and in the US from state to state. In some countries - the UK and Ireland being notable examples - personality or publicity rights don’t exist at all.
In the US, proposals have been made in Congress for a new US-wide digital replica right - including in the NO FAKES Act - which would provide control over how any one person’s voice and likeness is exploited by AI, while also providing a framework for how that new right might be monetised.
However, that legislation is still under consideration, and recent amendments have been met with criticism from some quarters on the basis that the new rights could harm free speech and be cumbersome to enforce.
Some in the UK artist and management community - including the organisations that make up the Council Of Music Makers - have nevertheless called for the UK government to consider introducing a similar digital replica right.
Meanwhile, the proposals in Denmark will provide an alternative framework that may work better in Europe - especially Continental Europe. And those Danish proposals may become law relatively rapidly, with a consultation kicking off imminently and proposals set to be put to Denmark’s Parliament in the autumn.
With widespread cross-party support for the proposals - it’s thought up to 90% of Danish MPs may back them - even if the tech sector turns out to be more resistant than Engel-Schmidt hopes, the new rights could still be passed later this year.