[DEEPFAKE IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY]

[DEEPFAKE - ARTIST - MUSICIAN - AUTHOR - ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE - INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY - COPYRIGHT - WORK - CREATION]

🚨  The entertainment industry is at a historic turning point with the emergence of deepfake technologies.

⚠  Digital Symphony : What happened to copyright without the author?

Celebrities, artists, musicians and authors speak out in the face of the challenges posed by the emergence of generative artificial intelligence and deepfake.

"‘I used AI to create a Drake song with The Weeknd"

Ghostwriter977

On 15 April 2023, the unnamed Ghostwriter977 posted an original song called ‘Heart on my Sleeve’ on his TikTok video, featuring the (deep)fake vocals of Drake and The Weeknd. The appropriation and exploitation of these voices had not been the subject of any consent from the artists. No official collaboration between Drake and The Weekend was planned for such a song. The record company Universal Music Group (UMG), representing the two artists, requested that the song be withdrawn from the platforms for copyright infringement, and it has now become a ghost in the music world.

"We must protect against predatory use of AI to steal the voices and likenesses of professional artists, violate creators’ rights and destroy the music ecosystem"

Artists Rights Alliance

On 2 April 2024, an open letter from the Artists Rights Alliance was published. Signed by over two hundred renowned artists such as Billie Eilish, Imagine Dragons, Pearl Jam, Norah Jones and Stevie Wonder, it highlights their concerns, and the impact of the intrusion of AI on musicians, both in terms of their creation and their rights.

"THIS IS NOT MY FACE"

On 3 April 2023, Kyland YOUNG of the reality TV show Big Brother filed a complaint against NEOCORTEXT, INC, developers of the deepfake software known as "Reface".

YOUNG claims that the use of the "artificial intelligence algorithm to allow users to exchange their faces with those of actors, musicians, athletes, celebrities" constitutes a violation of California Right of Publicity Statute Cal. Civ. Code § 3344.

NEOCORTEXT, INC. relies on principles of free speech and public interest to assert California's anti-SLAPP statute (First Amendment to the United States Constitution; Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 425.16(e); Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 425.16(a)); Greater L.A. Agency on Deafness, Inc. v. Cable News Network, Inc, 742 F.3d 414, 422 (9th Cir. 2014)).

(Kyland Young v. NeoCortext, Inc. (C.D.CA Case No. 2:23-cv-02496-WLH(PVCx) following Complaint No. ACACDC-35072410 filed on May 1, 2014).

⚖️ Deepfake can be defined as "a mono- or multimedia synthesis technique based on artificial intelligence. It can be used to superimpose or merge existing images, video or audio files onto other images or video or audio files, to create artificial content about a target person based on the behaviour of a source person, or even to artificially create similar content based on text commands."

(Government Amendment No 127 of 3 July 2023 (adopted))

Article 4 bis of Text No. 286 adopted definitively by the National Assembly on 10 April 2024 suggests amending Article 226-8 of the Criminal Code to :

- broaden its scope to penalise certain content:

"the act of bringing to the attention of the public or a third party, by any means whatsoever, visual or audio content generated by algorithmic processing and representing the image or words of a person, without that person's consent, if it is not obvious that the content is algorithmically generated or if it is not expressly mentioned that this is the case."

- introduce an aggravating circumstance:

"These penalties are increased to two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros when the offences provided for in this article have been committed using an online public communication service."

The purpose of the aforementioned amendment is to prevent and control the risks of producing forgeries, identity theft, dissemination of false information and fraud, among others, which are detrimental to public confidence and public order.

(Government Amendment No. 127 of 3 July 2023 (adopted), Government Amendment No. 128 of 3 July 2023 and Sub-Amendment No. 129 rect. Bis of 4 July 2023 on Bill 593 ‘Securing and regulating the digital space’, TITLE II: Protecting citizens in the digital environment ; Article 4 bis (new) of Text n° 156 (2022-2023) adopted by the Senate on 5 July 2023, Text n°1514 rectified transmitted to the National Assembly on 7 July 2023, Text n°175 amended by the National Assembly on 17 October 2023, Text of the Joint Committee n°470 (2023-2024) tabled on 26 March 2024 and Text n°286 definitively adopted by the National Assembly on 10 April 2024).