A Tokyo court has sided with Japanese voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda, ruling that the human voice is protected by law in a landmark AI case. Tsuda, known for his role as Seto Kaiba in Yu-Gi-Oh!, claimed an anonymous TikTok account used AI to clone his distinctive baritone voice for narration. The court found that using an actor's voice without permission infringes on their publicity rights, a first for Japan.
Tsuda's request to have TikTok remove the videos was dismissed, as the account had already been deleted. The account, which at its peak had more than 200,000 followers, featured what his legal team called "dubious, sordid content" narrated by a cloned voice. TikTok argued the voice was "generic" and its similarity to Tsuda's was debatable.
The ruling highlights growing concerns among anime voice actors about AI's use of their work. Japan's government has been pro-AI but has asked OpenAI to protect anime and manga content from unauthorized training, calling it "irreplaceable treasures."
Source: Engadget · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing