Incredible. Taylor Swift has patented her voice and an image from her concerts as a trademark. The singer wants to protect two phrases spoken by her and a specific image from her The Eras Tour in front of unauthorized uses of artificial intelligence. Matthew McConaughey has done something similar with his voice, his gestures, and some recognizable elements of his public identity. It is incredible that we have reached this point. For years we have registered trademarks, logos, compositions, literary works, graphic and industrial designs, inventions, characters, products... That is to say, we have registered what we produced, what we invented, what we generated from our skills and intelligence. Now we take a step further to confront AI. We patent our voice. Not what we do, but what we are. A voice acquires the rank of an industrial asset. A way of looking, of speaking, of appearing on stage or greeting the public can become legally protected material. The human enters the commercial register. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted several of Swift's applications, as well as those of other singers in recent months.Artificial intelligence has changed the nature of copying. A voice can be cloned. A face can be reconstructed. A performance can be reused to create another. An unknown singer may discover that their timbre has been used to fuel a song they did not sing. Any artist can end up as raw material for a creation they neither know, nor authorize, nor are paid for. Registering voices is like trying to catch the moon in a basket. AI does not need to copy a voice exactly. It can evade it with another formulation. It can approximate it without touching the protected perimeter. It can learn from millions of anonymous voices uploaded to musical applications, social networks, home videos, contests, tutorials, or any platform where, when we download it, we press “accept the legal conditions” without reading them. Let's get realistic. It will be impossible to stop the use of humans to create digitally.The path will have to be different. It will be necessary to identify. Distinguish. Certify. Just as there is an ISO for certain processes or a designation of origin for a wine, we will need a clear signal that says: made by a person. I call it: "human designation of origin." Sung, written, or performed by a person. It is information that the consumer has the right to know. Here will be the true value. In a market flooded with synthetic content, humans will need guarantees, traceability, and a seal.The future of creation will not consist in competing against the machine, but in preserving the origin. Like good wines. Not only the result will matter. It will matter to know which land it comes from.
