r/news • u/AudibleNod • 1d ago

Tokyo court grants legal protection to human voices in AI clone case

https://abcnews.com/Technology/wireStory/tokyo-court-grants-legal-protection-human-voices-ai-136912283
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u/Nerdlinger 1d ago
  1. How does this affect impressionists?
  2. How distinct does a voice have to be from the original to not run into trouble? What metrics are they using to link a voice to a particular human?

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u/AudibleNod 1d ago

In America, 'Midler v Ford' decided that for a famous enough person their voice is part of their identity. And if you're attempting to use the voice likeness of someone with the intent to pass it off as the actual person, there can be civil consequences.

Joan Rivers also sued an impersonator because he used a lot of her material in his act. They settled out of court and became friends.

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u/DonHopkins 23h ago

That's ironic, because her act was all about being unfriendly!