Elvis impersonators have been ubiquitous for decades, but only when artificial intelligence gave the masses tools to replicate his iconic sound did his adopted home state change its laws to explicitly protect his voice.
Tennessee’s Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security Act—ELVIS Act—was enacted March 21 and codifies a right to control commercial exploitation of one’s own voice if it’s recognizable and attributable to a particular person. The law comes largely in response to a viral AI-made song mimicking the voices of rappers Drake and The Weeknd in spring 2023, which alarmed the music industry and raised a host ...