In a recent congressional hearing on artificial intelligence and intellectual property, country music singer and Yellowstone star Lainey Wilson shared her unsettling experience of having her voice cloned by AI technologies.
Fox News reports that Lainey Wilson, the country singer renowned for her hit “Heart Like a Truck” and her role in Yellowstone, took a stand in Washington, DC, last week, highlighting the growing concerns among artists over AI’s unauthorized use of their voices and likenesses.
The congressional hearing on AI and intellectual property opened on Friday with a jarring example that used Johnny Cash’s voice in an AI-generated rendition of “Barbie Girl” to the tune of “Folsom Prison Blues,” highlighting the bizarre and often unauthorized applications of AI in the entertainment industry.
Wilson’s testimony shed light on the personal and professional violations artists face when AI commandeers their unique identities without consent. She expressed how her music and voice serve as a bridge to connect with fans, emphasizing that the unauthorized use of her voice not only misrepresents her but also infringes on her personal rights.
“I use my music and my voice to tell stories, to connect to my fans and to help them to connect to each other. My art is uniquely and literally me, my name, my likeness, my voice,” she said. “I do not have to tell you how much of a gut punch it is to have your name, your likeness or your voice ripped from you and used in ways that you could never imagine or would never allow. It is wrong, plain and simple.”
Lainey Wilson performs onstage during the Recording Academy and Clive Davis’ Salute To Industry Icons pre-Grammy gala at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California on February 3, 2024. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
“There aren’t many things that we can control in life, but making decisions about the use of our own selves, our own unique qualities, that should be one,” Wilson continued. “I am excited about a lot of ways that artificial intelligence can be used to help people, but I’m nervous about how it can be used to take personal rights.”
The misuse of Wilson’s voice extends beyond creative misrepresentation. She revealed that her likeness was used to endorse weight-loss products, an action she would never condone, especially given her influence on young fans. Wilson stressed the importance of self-acceptance and the negative impact such unauthorized endorsements could have on her audience’s self-perception.
Wilson told the committee: “I’ve got a lot of little kids watching me, a lot of little girls and a lot of little boys. And I want to encourage them to feel comfortable in their own skin and love themselves. And I would never in a million years ever do anything like that. But at the end of the day, you know, people are like, ‘I got to see it to believe it.’ Well, they’re seeing it, and they’re believing it.”
Read more at Fox News here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
