What legal protection do you have if someone makes an AI copy of your voice or face?

A cloned voice in a radio spot, a lookalike face in a sponsored video, a "new" song in your voice that you never sang: these are now cheap to make and quick to spread. Our page on personal brand, NIL and likeness rights explains the rights that sit underneath your name, image and voice. This page focuses on one problem, an unauthorized AI copy of you, and on what each available law can and cannot do about it, drawing on the Copyright Office's report Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 1: Digital Replicas.

How to respond to an AI copy of you, step by step

1. Preserve the evidence the same day. Save the full URL, the account name, the date and time, and a screen recording of any audio or video. Posts and ads can disappear once you complain, and you may need them later.
2. Sort the copy by type. An intimate image or video of you has its own federal removal route with a 48-hour deadline under the TAKE IT DOWN Act, covered on our page about getting a deepfake intimate image taken down. Everything else falls under the other laws below.
3. Check whether your own recording or photo was used. If the clone was built by copying a recording, photo or video whose copyright you own, a written notice to the platform's designated agent under 17 U.S.C. 512(c)(3) can remove it. The elements of that notice are on our page on DMCA takedown notice requirements.
4. Report it under the platform's own rules. Many platforms prohibit impersonation and synthetic media in their terms, independent of any statute, and a registered trademark in your name or handle gives their brand programs something concrete to act on.
5. If it sells something, send a demand. A commercial use, such as an ad or endorsement, can support a false endorsement claim under 15 U.S.C. 1125(a) and a state right of publicity claim. A written demand is usually the first move, as our post on cease and desist letters explains.
6. If the poster is anonymous, plan how to identify them. Courts can order a platform to disclose who is behind an account, a process described on our page about finding out who is behind an anonymous account.
7. Decide whether to sue. Lanham Act and copyright claims can be brought in federal court. Our page on what happens in an Atlanta federal IP lawsuit walks through that process.

Which law fits which kind of copy?

No single law covers every clone. In its Part 1 report, the Copyright Office wrote that "no federal statute focuses solely on the use of an individual's image, likeness, or voice," and then reviewed the laws that reach parts of the problem. The table below follows that review.

The copyright limit surprises people. The report explains that copyright protects the photographs and recordings a replica might be built from, but "does not, however, protect an individual's identity in itself." So a new voice track that never copied one of your recordings is usually a publicity, endorsement or deception problem, not a copyright one. Our post on where copyright protection stops with AI covers the related question of what AI output can be owned.

What did the Copyright Office recommend?

The Office concluded that "a new law is needed" and that "the speed, precision, and scale of AI-created digital replicas calls for prompt federal action." It released Part 1 on July 31, 2024 (Copyright Office, Copyright and Artificial Intelligence). The report is a recommendation to Congress, not a law, and the general federal digital replica right it describes is not what Congress enacted in 2025: the TAKE IT DOWN Act is limited to intimate images.

The Office also declined to recommend protecting an artist's style in new legislation, so an output that imitates how you paint or sing, without replicating your voice or face, falls outside the proposal. If you license your recordings or images to AI developers, our page on licensing your work for AI training covers the separate copyright questions.

What does Georgia law add?

Georgia recognizes a right of publicity through court decisions, and the Eleventh Circuit has stated that in Georgia the right survives death; our page on Georgia's right of publicity covers how that works. As of October 4, 2026, the legislature's status pages show none of the digital replica bills filed in 2025 and 2026 reaching final passage. As of October 4, 2026, the legislature's page for HB 566, the "NO FAKES Act of 2025," shows its last action on February 25, 2026, a House committee substitute, with no floor vote recorded. Two 2026 House bills on likeness and digital replicas, HB 1399 and HB 1603, show no action after second reading.

For intimate fakes, Georgia's criminal statute already reaches altered images: a 2021 act (SB 78, Act 207) revised O.C.G.A. 16-11-90 so that posting nude or sexually explicit images of an adult without consent covers "a falsely created videographic or still image."

What should your contracts say about digital replicas?

The Office noted that private agreements can govern the use of a person's name, voice and likeness, and that the 2023 SAG-AFTRA agreement with the studios added terms on consent and compensation for AI replicas. Outside union contracts, your own deal terms are often the strongest protection you have. Our post on IP licensing for creators and brands explains how a license is structured; for a replica, add these points:

• A separate consent for synthetic versions. Say whether the other side may create a digital replica of your voice or face at all, and for which project.
• No training without a separate grant. Bar use of your recordings and footage to train or fine-tune a model unless a separate clause, with its own fee, allows it.
• Approval of each generated use. Generated scripts, lines or scenes should need your written approval before release.
• Deletion at the end. Require deletion of voice models, face models and source files when the term ends, with written confirmation.
• Rights after death. State whether any license continues after your death and who controls it, since the Office recommended that postmortem protection be limited and states vary widely.

What changes the answer

• Commercial or not. False endorsement under 15 U.S.C. 1125(a) requires use "in commerce" that is likely to cause confusion about "sponsorship, or approval," and most state publicity laws focus on commercial uses. A parody posted for no money raises different questions.
• How well known you are. The report notes that most federal courts require consumer awareness of the person to show likely confusion, which favors recognizable figures.
• Whether your own work was copied. Copyright gives you a claim only if the clone reproduced a recording, image or video you own (17 U.S.C. 106), and you must register a U.S. work before suing (17 U.S.C. 411(a)).
• Whether it is intimate. Intimate "digital forgeries" fall under the TAKE IT DOWN Act's criminal provisions and its 48-hour platform removal duty (Pub. L. 119-12, sections 2 and 3).
• Where you live and where it happened. The report counts 27 states with postmortem publicity rights, 19 by statute and 8 by common law, and calls the overall picture a patchwork.
• Whether you are alive. After death, the estate's rights depend on state law; some states protect for decades and some not at all.

A worked example

Common mistakes

• Sending a DMCA notice for a voice alone. A notice claims copyright in a work; a voice or face, by itself, is not one, and a notice under penalty of perjury should be accurate.
• Waiting to collect evidence. Ads and posts are pulled or edited quickly, and you lose proof of reach and dates.
• Assuming a federal NIL statute exists. The Copyright Office recommended one; outside intimate images, you still work with state law, the Lanham Act and contracts.
• Signing a broad "likeness" grant. Old-style grants of "name and likeness in all media" can be read to cover synthetic versions. Our guide to personal service and performance contracts covers grant language.
• Ignoring trademark. A registered name or handle helps platform enforcement and supports confusion claims; see our page on trademark protection for creators.

What to do this week

1. Capture every instance of the copy with URL, date, account name and a screen recording.
2. Decide which category it is: intimate, commercial (an ad or endorsement), copied from your own work, or a scam impersonation.
3. For an intimate image, use the platform's TAKE IT DOWN removal process first.
4. For a scam using your voice, report it to the platform and to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
5. Pull your current brand, label, agency and performance contracts and check what they say about synthetic versions of you.
6. List which of your recordings and photos you own and whether they are registered.
7. If an advertiser is involved, have a demand letter prepared before the campaign runs its course.

Frequently asked questions

Is it illegal to make an AI copy of someone's voice?

Making one is not, by itself, the main problem under most current laws; using or distributing it is. The Copyright Office even recommended that liability attach to distribution, not creation alone. Commercial, deceptive and intimate uses are where existing laws apply most clearly.

Can I copyright my voice?

No. The report explains that copyright protects recordings and other works, not a person's identity. You can own the copyright in your recordings, which matters if a clone copied them.

Does the TAKE IT DOWN Act cover a fake ad using my face?

No. The Act covers intimate visual depictions, including AI-generated "digital forgeries." A fake ad is handled through false endorsement, publicity rights, the FTC Act and platform policies.

What if the clone imitates my style but not my voice or face?

The Office did not recommend covering artistic style in a new law. Depending on the facts, copyright in specific works or false endorsement may still apply, so the details matter.

Can my estate stop an AI copy after I die?

It depends on state law. The report counts 27 states with postmortem publicity rights, with terms ranging from 20 years in Virginia to indefinitely in Tennessee while the right is exploited. Estate planning and license terms fill the gaps.

Can I make the AI company pay?

Sometimes. A developer that copied your recordings to train a model may face copyright questions; a business that used the clone in an ad may face false endorsement and publicity claims. Who is liable depends on what each party did and knew.

Zala IP Law advises artists, performers and creators on likeness rights, digital replica terms in their contracts, and responses to unauthorized uses, and Shreepal J. Zala practices federal intellectual property and entertainment law nationally. If an AI copy of you is circulating or a contract asks for replica rights, request a consultation or call 404-313-1701.