Matthew McConaughey trademarks voice and likeness to fight AI deepfakes
Hollywood actor Matthew McConaughey has trademarked his voice and likeness to protect them from being used in artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes.
The Oscar winner has had eight trademark applications recently granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office, including for audio of his signature catchphrase “all right, all right, all right”, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The improvised line from his 1993 comedy picture Dazed and Confused was approved, along with several visual clips of the Dallas Buyers Club star smiling, speaking and looking into the camera.
“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 wrote in a statement to the Wall Street Journal.
“We want to create a clear perimeter around ownership with consent and attribution the norm in an AI [artificial intelligence] world.”
McConaughey’s lawyers from the entertainment law firm Yorn Levine said the applications were intended to protect their client’s voice and likeness from unauthorised AI use, according to Variety.
Deepfakes are images, audio, or video material generated by artificial intelligence to simulate a person’s appearance and voice.
“I don’t know what a court will say in the end, but we have to at least test this,” said firm partner Kevin Yorn.
Variety reported the firm also secured trademarks for a seven-second video of McConaughey standing on a porch, and a three-second video of him standing in front of a Christmas tree.
They also won trademarks for an audio clip featuring the actor saying: “Just keep living, right? ... I mean ... what are we gonna do?”
Deepfakes of figures such as Taylor Swift, Tom Hanks and Oprah Winfrey have been used to create fake endorsements of products and Ponzi schemes.
Elon Musk came under fire this month after Grok, the AI chatbot on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, was used to generate fake pornographic photos, including of women and children.
“In a world where we’re watching everybody scramble to figure out what to do about AI misuse, we have a tool now to stop someone in their tracks or take them to federal court,” Yorn Levine attorney Jonathan Pollack said.
Some stars have previously had trademarks approved for their catchphrases, like Paris Hilton’s “That’s hot” and Lizzo’s ”100% that B****“.
However, McConaughey is believed to be the first to obtain a comprehensive trademark over himself, according to the Telegraph.
Despite the trademarks, McConaughey is not opposed to AI technology.
The Telegraph reported the 56-year-old has invested in AI audio company ElevenLabs, which he is working with to generate Spanish-language audio versions of his newsletter Lyrics of Livin’ in his own voice.