The governor of Tennessee has approved a law that aims to protect musical artists from exploitation or replication by artificial intelligence. Gov. Bill Lee signed into law the Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security Act on Thursday at a honky-tonk bar in Nashville. 'There are certainly many things that are positive about what AI does,' Lee said during the event. 'It also, when fallen into the hands of bad actors, it can destroy this industry.
Musical artists across genres have expressed concern about the rising popularity of artificial intelligence and its ability to synthesize songs using the voice of real singers. Artificial intelligence programs have also been able to create entire songs in the style of musical artists via analysis of their existing bodies of work — though results vary drastically in quality.
Nashville is one of the most popular cities in the nation for aspiring and established musical artists. Its live performance venues and many recording studio locations have made it a hub of the music industry.