Setting a precedent

In a development that may well set a precedent and safeguard the rights of musicians from emerging AI tools, Arijit Singh was granted relief by the Bombay High Court that said that AI tools generating content using a celebrity’s voice, image, or other attributes without consent did indeed violate his or her “personality rights”. The move may provide some clarity to industry artiste who’ve publicly claimed that the laws relating to the use of AI-generated content of this nature are ambiguous. Celebrities are particularly vulnerable to unauthorised generation of content through AI tools, the court said. Hearing a petition filed by the singer, Justice RI Chagla in his interim order on July 26 restrained eight online platforms from using Singh’s “personality rights”, and directed them to remove all such content and also voice conversion tools. The singer had moved the court, claiming that these platforms provide AI tools to synthesise artificial sound recordings by mimicking his voice, mannerisms, and other attributes. Singh has consciously refrained from any kind of brand endorsement or gross commercialisation of his personality traits for the past several years, his lawyer Hiren Kamod said. The high court agreed that Singh should be given interim relief.

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