Tennessee Becomes First US State with Law Protecting Musicians From AI

On Thursday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed the ELVIS (Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security) Act into law to protect musicians from unauthorized use by artificial intelligence. The legislation amends Tennessee’s personal rights protection law to include protections for performers, songwriters, and music industry professionals’ voices against the misuse of AI. Though Tennessee’s pre-existing law protects names, images, and likenesses, it didn’t address new, personalized generative AI cloning services that allow users to do unauthorized fake works in the image and voice of others.