(L-R) RIAA Chairman & CEO Mitch Glazier, Recording Academy Chief Advocacy & Public Policy Officer Todd Dupler, Singer-Songwriter Natalie Grant, Recording Academy Nashville Chapter Executive Director Alicia Warwick, and RIAA SVP of Artist & Industry Relations Jackie Krimmel Jones attend ELVIS Act Advocacy Day at the Cordell Hull State Office Building.
The Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security (ELVIS) Act moved forward after compelling personal testimony from prominent Contemporary Christian artist-songwriters Natalie Grant and Matt Maher alongside hit songwriter/Evanescence co-founder David Hodges. The ELVIS Act is major legislation introduced by Governor Bill Lee last month along with State Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-27) and House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-44).
Watch House (HB2091) and Senate (SB2096) Committee hearings.
"Every day, there are new stories about deepfakes and AI-cloned voices and images that manipulates someone’s likeness without their consent. This is not just a problem that effects celebrities, this is a human problem that affects us all. As a mother of three daughters, I am terrified by how this technology has been used to exploit teenagers,” said Grant, RIAA Gold-certified, five-time Dove Awards Female Vocalist of the Year, nine-time GRAMMY® Awards-nominated artist and Recording Academy® Nashville Chapter Governor. “It’s fitting that this bill is named the ELVIS Act, because Elvis performed so many different types of songs – from love songs to the blues, from pop songs to gospel music – but he infused them with his distinct voice, likeness, and personal qualities to create something new. Every individual should have the right to control their unique God-given qualities."
This all comes as the federal bipartisan No AI FRAUD federal gains traction and following congressional testimony from GRAMMY® Award-winning Country artist Lainey Wilson and Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. as well as nearly 300 actors, artists, musicians and songwriters co-signing these basic yet necessary protections. See here.
