Members of SAG-AFTRA Nashville, along with representatives of all the major entertainment labor unions and performer rights organizations, were on hand for Tennessee Governor Bill Lee's announcement of new state legislation to protect Singers, Songwriters and Recording Artists from abuses linked to Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Called the "ELVIS Act" - Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security - the legislation would update Tennessee’s current Protection of Personal Rights law. Tennessee already has one of the most comprehensive Right of Publicity laws, largely in response to unauthorized usage of the image of the late Elvis Presley. If this legislation is approved, those protections would now include a performer's voice and likeness, making Tennessee the first state in the nation to preserve individual voice, image and likeness against irresponsible and unethical AI in the form of deep fakes and audio cloning. The Act will now go to the full Tennessee legislature for ratification.
About SAG-AFTRA
SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other entertainment and media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. A proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA has national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide representing members working together to secure the strongest protections for entertainment and media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit SAG-AFTRA online at SAGAFTRA.org.