On April 11, the "Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act of 2025" or "NO FAKES Act" was re-introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 2794) and Senate (S. 1367). The House bill is sponsored by Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar and the Senate bill is sponsored by Sen. Christopher Coons. The NO FAKES Act would bolster individuals' intellectual property rights in their likenesses and voices by recognizing a private right of action against unauthorized and harmful "deepfakes." The bill has bipartisan backing as well as the endorsement of a cross-section of the creative and tech industries. The NO FAKES Act is strong on the merits and the 119th Congress should give it due consideration.
Although generative AI technologies offer potential benefits, they also may be abused. Public displays and dissemination of "deepfake" songs misappropriate the value of recording artists’ voices, damaging the artists economically. Also, generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools and services on the Internet allow users to create "deepfake" explicit pictures and videos of individuals.
The NO FAKES Act would address those "deepfake" dangers in a targeted way by establishing a national uniform baseline of legal protection for an individual’s likeness and voice from unauthorized digital replicas. If passed by the 119th Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump, the Act would make civilly liable anyone who knowingly produces a digital replica without the consent of the rights owner. It also would make civilly liable anyone who knowingly publishes, reproduces, displays, distributes, transmits, or makes the digital replica available to the public without the rights owner's consent. Persons harmed under the Act would have a right to seek statutory or actual damages, recovery of costs and attorneys’ fees, and injunctive relief.
Recognizing the potential benefits of authorized digital replicas, the NO FAKES Act provides that individuals would have the right to license their personas for digital replication by third parties. Additionally, the Act is carefully written to address abuses and it includes safeguards for First Amendment-protected free speech and expression using generative AI tech. It bears emphasis that the NO FAKES Act is about private law – personal rights and intellectual property rights; it is not a federal criminal law bill.
A more detailed review of the same bill, previously introduced in the 118th Congress, is provided in my August 2024 Perspectives from FSF Scholars, "The 'NO FAKES Act' Would Protect Americans' Rights Against Harmful Digital Replicas."