Whether or not artists like it, the use of AI has become more prevalent in the music industry. Last year, Bad Bunny was pissed about a viral AI song trained on his voice; more recently, sexually explicit deepfakes of Taylor Swift went viral. Today, Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee signed the ELVIS Act to protect musicians’ voices and images from the misuse of AI.
“From Beale Street to Broadway, to Bristol and beyond, Tennessee is known for our rich artistic heritage that tells the story of our great state,” Lee said while signing the legislation at a live music bar called Robert’s Western World, according to Nashville's local WKRN News 2. “As the technology landscape evolves with artificial intelligence, I thank the General Assembly for its partnership in creating legal protection for our best-in-class artists and songwriters.”
Country artists Chris Janson and Luke Bryan were in attendance and shared their own stories to support the bill. “I heard a demo a while back," Janson explained. "I said, ‘I don’t even remember writing that song.’ They went, ‘Uh huh, you didn’t.’ I said, ‘Okay, we got to put a stop to this right now.'”
ELVIS is an acronym that stands for “Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security.” The governor told News 2, “We’ll continue to look at changes, but this was the right thing to do. This is the first of these such bills in America. Obviously, it’s broadly been well-received by the entire industry, so we hope its a blueprint. We hope the country moves this direction, and I’m sure there’ll be strengthening to it in the day, in the years ahead.”
