The Illinois State Senate passed a landmark bill that would prevent the use of artists' images, voices and likenesses without consent.
HB 4875Signed into law by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, it formally enacts amendments to state law. Publicity lawwhich was passed in 1999 to require written consent for the use of an artist’s image for commercial purposes. The revamped bill allows musicians, record labels and other rights holders to sue parties that use artificial intelligence to generate and disseminate unauthorized digital replicas.
The bill defines “digital replica” as a “newly created electronic representation of an actual individual’s identity created using a computer, algorithm, software, tool, artificial intelligence, or other technology that is fixed in a sound recording or audiovisual work in which that individual did not actually act or appear.”
Senator Mary Edly-Allen sponsored HB 4875, which had received bipartisan support since its introduction to the Illinois State Senate.
“In recent years, we have seen an explosion of AI tools and AI-generated content, often created and distributed without permission,” Edly-Allen said in a Press release “While AI is a powerful tool with the potential to do much good, safeguards are needed to protect artists and the general public,” her office said.
The scourge of AI-powered deepfake technology has emerged as the music industry’s most explosive flashpoint, raising urgent questions and fears around authenticity. Deepfakes pose significant existential challenges for musicians, who are rightly concerned about the potential for their work, voices, and identities to be exploited and repackaged in deceptive ways.
“As an independent artist, every song I make is a piece of my soul,” added Dani Deahl, a DJ, dance music producer and member of the Chicago Recording Academy’s board of trustees who testified in the case. “House Bill 4875 isn’t just a law — it’s a shield that protects that soul from being imitated and monetized by unauthorized AI. It ensures that our identities remain uniquely our own. This law ensures that as technology advances, it does so with respect for our rights and our very essence as creators.”
The legislation is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to AI-related protections for artists, as the rapid proliferation of unethical deepfake technology has led to growing support beyond the state level. Led by Delaware Senator Chris Coons, a group of members of Congress introduced the NO FAKES Lawwhich seeks to establish federal barriers “to protect the image, voice and visual likeness of individuals” from unfair use.
The Subcommittee on Intellectual Property of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee held a audience on Tuesday, April 30, titled “The NO FAKES Act: Protecting Americans from Unauthorized Digital Replicas.”
“This bill would protect people from having their images, voices, or likenesses used to create digital replicas that say or do things they never agreed to or would never say,” Coons said in testimony at the time, according to Technology Policy Press“The bill achieves this broad goal in two ways: by holding individuals and businesses liable if they produce an unauthorized digital replica of an individual's voice, image, or likeness, and by holding platforms liable if they host or distribute an unauthorized digital replica if the platform knows that the person depicted did not authorize it.”
HB 4875 officially became Illinois law on August 9, 2024 and will be signed into law on January 1, 2025.
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