Tokyo Court Rules Voice Protected in AI Cloning Case
A Tokyo court has ruled that the human voice is protected by law, siding with voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda in Japan's first AI voice cloning case.
A Tokyo court has ruled that the human voice is protected by law, in a landmark case that marks the first time a Japanese court has addressed AI voice cloning. The court sided with Japanese voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda, who claimed that a TikTok account used AI to clone his voice.
The court said that using an actor's voice without permission infringes on their publicity rights. However, Tsuda's request to order TikTok to remove the videos was dismissed because the offending account had already been deleted.
According to engadget.com, the case is the first of its kind in Japan. Between July 2024 and the second half of last year, videos narrated by an AI-cloned voice were uploaded to an anonymous TikTok account. At its height, the account had more than 200,000 followers.
Separately, last year, Japan's government asked OpenAI to ensure that anime and manga content it deemed 'irreplaceable treasures' were not used to train its Sora 2 generator in a way that violates copyright.
Quick answers
What did the Tokyo court rule about AI voice cloning?
The court ruled that the human voice is protected by law and that using an actor's voice without permission infringes on their publicity rights.
Why was Tsuda's request to remove the TikTok videos dismissed?
The request was dismissed because the offending account had already been deleted.
Was this the first such case in Japan?
Yes, this was the first case of its kind in Japan.