Can stars protect themselves from AI?

Actor Matthew McConaughey spoke about the advancement of artificial intelligence earlier this year and issued a direct call to action:

"It's already here. It's not enough to sit on the sidelines and say, 'No, this is wrong.' Protect yourself - your voice, your image and everything else. Register it, protect it however you need to, so that no one can steal it from you."

The actor filed eight trademark applications in 2023, including an audio recording of his famous “Alright, alright, alright!” from the 1993 film “Dazed and Confused.”

After two years of consideration, the United States Patent and Trademark Office approved the trademarks.

"My team and I want to know that when my voice or likeness is used, it's because I approved it. We want clear boundaries of ownership and for consent and attribution to be the norm in the AI ​​world," McConaughey said.

Variety magazine covered this topic, revealing that Taylor Swift has followed in the actor's footsteps.

Her company filed three trademark applications for her voice and likeness on April 24. Two are for audio protection of the phrases: “Hey, it's Taylor Swift” and “Hey, it's Taylor,” and the third is for a photo of her with a pink guitar and a colorful costume.

The move comes after the singer was repeatedly targeted by AI-based fake content. Taylor has registered more than 400 trademarks worldwide, including album titles, tour dates, song lyrics, and even the names of her cats: Meredith, Olivia, and Benjamin.

But McConaughey and Swift are trying something new: they're not protecting a product or a slogan, they're trying to protect their identity.

Their concerns come at a time when generative AI can create incredibly realistic voices and video content, making it already possible to create a digital copy of a person who looks and sounds exactly the same.

A digital avatar of the late actor Val Kilmer will appear in the upcoming film “As Deep as the Grave,” even though he never filmed a single scene for the project. His family has approved the use of a digital version of him, as required by SAG-AFTRA.

Actors' and screenwriters' unions remain concerned, however, and in January more than 700 of them, including Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchett and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, launched a campaign against the misuse of AI technology.

However, legal experts warn that McConaughey's approach may not solve all the problems.

According to attorney Matthew Asbell, stars don't just own words or their recordings, so a trademark probably can't stop someone from using AI to copy the very timbre of someone's voice, adding that entirely new laws would be needed, but even they don't guarantee protection.

"Actors overestimate how much the audience really wants real actors. There will be synthetic actors who will be good enough for most people," says attorney JD Hariman, adding that "celebrities are losing bargaining power every day if they don't sign an AI contract."

But even if they are protected, AI-created movie stars like Tilly Norwood will become a reality.

“The question is not whether AI actors will replace actors, but whether actors will retain their place in this new era - or be left behind,” wrote Eileen Van der Velden, creator of Tilly.

McConaughey has meanwhile wondered whether the Oscars will one day introduce a category for best AI film or best AI actor, but the Academy has so far said that AI actors do not meet the requirements for the awards and that scripts must be written by humans in order to be eligible.

However, the fear remains that AI will become so advanced that people will no longer be able to distinguish reality from artificial creation.