Exclusive: Bipartisan members introduce new bill to protect creators from AI style theft
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Illustration: Aida Amer/Axios
A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill that would give visual artists legal protection against commercial AI-generated imitations of their work without permission.
Why it matters: There currently isn't a legal framework that protects a creator's style. Copyright laws protect registered works, but not someone's likeness.
State of play: The CREATOR Act (Creative Rights for Artists' Technique and Originality Are Reserved Act) was introduced Tuesday by Reps. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas), Yvette D. Clarke (D-N.Y.), Burgess Owens (R-Utah) and Valerie P. Foushee (D-N.C.).
- The proposed legislation would create a federal standard for protecting a visual artist's distinctive style.
- It gives all creators the ability to sue a platform or individual for intentionally copying their style with AI for commercial gain.
Zoom in: The bill is being championed by Adobe, whose customers include corporate teams and individual creators, many of whom have worked for years to develop a signature artistic style.
- "We want creators to be able to use tools that have AI without fear," Adobe's chief legal officer Louise Pentland tells Axios.
- This bill, she said, aims to provide a legal distinction between inspiration and impersonation.
How it works: The bill provides a legal framework for creators to stop bad actors who knowingly use AI to copy their visual style for commercial gain and seek damages for that illegal use.
- It includes liability and safe harbor provisions that protect AI platforms from being liable for infringement by their users, as long as those platforms comply with the act, which includes several notice and take-down requirements.
- Van Duyne says her office has been in touch with tech platforms about the bill and they are largely supportive of the effort because it creates a broad federal framework that's easier to adhere to than a patchwork of state laws.
Context: The bill establishes a legal framework for creators, but it does not mandate infrastructure for creators to register their likeness or visual style in a database that can be referred to when suing for damages.
- When asked if something like that should be introduced, Clarke said there should be an independent arbitrator that can evaluate the veracity of creators' legal claims so that the policing isn't left to platforms, but this bill doesn't outline what that could look like.
- Van Duyne said creators shouldn't need to register their likeness the way performance artists must register their songs with the Copyright Office. "This is taking it from an ordinary observer test," she said, meaning an ordinary person could easily tell if one's likeness was being imitated.
Zoom out: There have been a number of state and federal bills introduced around AI impersonation, deepfakes and data protection, but those measures don't typically cover visual artists.
- The bipartisan NO FAKES Act, for example, protects creators from unauthorized AI-generated replicas of their voice, face, likeness or performance, but it doesn't explicitly address their visual style.
- Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) introduced a "Creator Bill of Rights" as a House resolution earlier this year to establish a framework for how Congress should think about protecting creators, but it's not a law.
- Van Duyne and Clarke launched a bipartisan Congressional Creators Caucus last year to tackle issues related to the broader creator economy. This bill is one of the first major laws introduced to support artists.
What to watch: Congress is currently gridlocked, but Van Duyne believes the ubiquity of the creator economy across all 50 states should help the bill gather support.
