The AI likeness law map: NO FAKES, ELVIS Act, right of publicity, EU AI Act

By HyperKnown Team·Published September 1, 2026

The law on AI likenesses stopped being theoretical. Since 2024, US states have passed a wave of digital-replica statutes, a federal bill has advanced further than any before it, and the EU's disclosure rules took effect in August 2026. This page maps the rules that matter for anyone licensing a real person's face or voice for AI content, on either side of the deal. It is maintained as the laws move; the updated date above reflects the last review.

What laws govern using someone's likeness in AI content?

One orientation point before the details: not one of these laws bans licensed, consented use. Every one of them targets the unauthorized kind, which makes documented consent the line between ordinary commercial content and liability. The complete guide covers how that consent gets structured.

What is the right of publicity?

The baseline layer. Most US states recognize, by statute or common law, each person's right to control commercial use of their name, image, likeness, and often voice. California's statute is the best known, and New York, Florida, Texas, and dozens of others have their own versions, varying on details like post-mortem duration. The right of publicity predates AI by decades; what the new statutes below add is precision about digitally replicated faces and voices, which older laws never had to name.

Which states have deepfake and AI likeness laws?

The pattern across these statutes: legislators are borrowing the union playbook. Specific described uses, informed consent, and no enforcement of blanket grants signed without representation, the same standards in SAG-AFTRA's agreements. Contract terms that were merely bad deals in 2023 are unenforceable in several states today.

What is the NO FAKES Act, and is it law yet?

The 2026 revision added a DMCA-style notice and counter-notice system for removing unauthorized replicas from platforms, alongside carve-outs for news, parody, and archival uses. For licensing, the bill's core mechanism is the important part: it is built around authorization, meaning a person can grant digital-replica rights, and the statute polices the uses nobody granted. If it passes, the consent records described across this site become the compliance artifact for a federal right, not just a patchwork of state ones.

What does the EU AI Act require?

Article 50 of the AI Act, applying since August 2, 2026, is a transparency rule rather than a consent rule, and it works at two levels. Providers of generative AI systems must mark output as AI-generated in a machine-readable way. Deployers, which includes brands running campaigns, must visibly disclose deepfake content: media resembling real people, places, or events that could falsely appear authentic, with the disclosure perceivable at first exposure and applying whether or not anyone intended to deceive. Evidently artistic, satirical, or fictional works get a lighter-touch version, and the European Commission has published guidance on the obligations with a code of practice on labeling in development. A realistic ad built from a real person's licensed likeness sits inside the deepfake definition, so brands should treat visible disclosure as the default for EU distribution.

Consent and disclosure are separate obligations, and a compliant EU campaign needs both: the license authorizes using the person's likeness, and the label tells viewers the media is AI-generated. Provenance standards such as C2PA content credentials are becoming the technical path to the second half.

What does this mean in practice?

• For creators: the bargaining power moved your way. Several states will not enforce vague or unrepresented replica grants, so a platform offering specific, per-project, compensated consent is aligned with the law rather than working around it. The contract red flags still matter most.
• For brands: the exposure is running unauthorized or unlabeled likenesses. A documented license from an identified, verified person answers the consent layer in every US state at once, and disclosure labeling answers the EU. The compliant workflow walks through both.

This page summarizes legislation in plain language and is not legal advice. Statutes and dates verified September 1, 2026; laws in this area change quickly, and the visible updated date reflects the last review.