Taylor Swift files to trademark her voice and likeness in the age of AI

1 hour ago 4

Taylor Swift has taken steps to support herself successful the property of artificial quality by trademarking her dependable and likeness, adding a furniture of extortion against copycats.

Swift's institution connected Friday filed 3 trademark applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Two applications screen her dependable speaking the phrases "Hey, it's Taylor Swift," and "Hey, it's Taylor." The 3rd trademark exertion applies to an representation of the popular prima posing connected signifier holding a guitar.

Intellectual spot lawyer Josh Gerben of Gerben IP, who archetypal spotted the filings, told CBS News that helium believes celebrities could necessitate specified protections arsenic AI tools marque it casual to make audio, ocular and video contented known arsenic "deepfakes," which tin picture a celebrated idiosyncratic doing oregon saying things they ne'er did and mightiness not condone.

"Now, anyone tin rotation up a mentation of an artist's voice, person it accidental anything, connect it to anything, and administer it astatine scale. And the scary part? It doesn't person to beryllium an nonstop transcript to origin damage," Gerben said successful a blog post connected the trademark applications.

He told CBS News helium expects Swift's actions to footwear disconnected a flurry of akin filings. He called Swift a "leader successful the intelligence spot space" and said helium expects different nationalist figures to instrumentality akin steps.

"I deliberation she is seeing a inclination wherever AI is being utilized to make images, to make audio, to make deepfakes of things that are truly not pleasant," helium said. "And the thought is however tin celebrities and radical that person a definite level of fame spell to these platforms and say, 'Hey, you can't fto your algorithm oregon your AI make these things.'"

Actor Matthew McConaughey likewise filed to trademark his iconic enactment arsenic David Wooderson successful "Dazed and Confused," "Alright, alright, alright."

"So the information that they are doing this is going to acceptable an illustration that a batch of radical are going to follow," Gerben said.

Existing trademark laws tin assistance curb copycats, and besides use to contented that could beryllium mistaken for the original, trademarked material. But laws connected the books were written earlier blase AI technologies became commercially available, Gerben noted.

Edited by Aimee Picchi

In: