Being a famous actor has its downsides, especially now that modern AI tools can convincingly replicate a person’s voice, face, and image, placing them in situations they never imagined or consented to. Earlier this year, clips circulated online of an AI-generated version of actor Tom Hanks advertising “miracle cures and wonder drugs” as part of online scams. Other celebrities, including Taylor Swift, have faced similar incidents involving the misuse of their likeness by scammers.
Matthew McConaughey, who starred in films such as Interstellar and Magic Mike, has had eight trademark applications—first spotted by The Wall Street Journal—approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office, aimed at protecting his likeness and voice from unapproved use by AI tools.
“My team and I want to know that when my voice or likeness is ever used, it’s because I approved and signed off on it,” the actor said in an email to The Journal. “We want to create a clear perimeter around ownership, with consent and attribution the norm in an AI world.”
The trademarks reportedly include images and clips of the actor in a variety of situations, including scenes featuring McConaughey under a Christmas tree, on a front porch, as well as quotations from notable performances.
Most US states already have so-called right-of-publicity laws that prevent a person’s likeness from being used to sell products without consent. However, McConaughey’s lawyers told the Journal that the new trademarks may help “deter misuse.”
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Actors in Hollywood secured new contractual protections against AI representations of them being made without their consent after the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, but some legal experts argue these safeguards do not go far enough. Legal scholar Victoria Haneman has called for stronger protections, including granting estates the right to digital deletion to prevent “digital resurrection” and preserve what she describes as “the right to be dead,” in a paper published in the Boston College Law Review.
McConaughey is not the only actor to take a proactive stance against unwanted AI recreations of his image. Speaking with the On With Kara Swisher podcast in 2024, Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. said he intends “to sue all future executives” who attempt to create digital replicas of him.
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