- jurisdiction
- US, Tennessee
- level
- state
- domain
- sectoral
- status
- in-effect
- scope
- Extends Tennessee's right-of-publicity law to explicitly cover AI-generated voice clones and digital replicas; prohibits use of AI to clone an artist's voice or likeness without consent for commercial purposes, advertising, or fundraising.
- obligations
- No person may use AI to produce a sound recording or audiovisual work that clones the voice or likeness of an identifiable individual without consent. Developers and distributors of AI tools face liability if the software's primary purpose is producing a particular identifiable individual's voice or likeness and is distributed knowing of unauthorized use. Content distributors must ensure published voice or likeness content is authorized.
- effectiveDate
- 2024-07-01
- enactedDate
- 2024-03-21
- penalties
- Civil remedies include injunctions and damages; criminal violations constitute a Class A misdemeanor with potential jail time up to 11 months and 29 days plus $2,500 fines.
- appliesTo
- any person or entity creating, distributing, or hosting AI-generated content using an individual's voice or likeness without consent; post-mortem protections extend to estates for ten years
- notes
- Signed March 21, 2024 by Governor Bill Lee; effective July 1, 2024. The tn.gov governor press-release URL timed out twice during validation; the law is confirmed real via Wikipedia, Recording Academy, and multiple law-firm analyses. Codified at Tenn. Code Ann. SS 47-25-1101 et seq. Passed Tennessee House 93-0 and Senate 30-0. First US law specifically protecting musicians from unauthorized AI voice cloning.
