digital replica
In plain wordsA realistic computer-made copy of a real person's voice or appearance — such as an AI clone of a singer's voice or a digital stand-in for an actor — that can say or do things the person never did.
Synthetic audio or imagery, generated or manipulated by computer, that a viewer or listener would take for a particular real person's voice or likeness, showing a performance or statement the person never gave; most are now made with voice cloningvoice cloning, n.: Using AI to copy a specific person's voice from recordings, so a computer can say new things that sound like them — useful for dubbing and accessibility, and abused in scams. or deepfakedeepfake, n.: A fake but realistic video, photo or voice recording made with AI that puts words in a real person's mouth or shows them in a scene that never happened. techniques. The term is used in law and labor contracts to set consent and compensation rules. SAG-AFTRA's 2023 film and television agreement distinguishes 'employment-based' replicas made during a production from 'independently created' ones, requiring informed consent and payment for each use. US states have extended rights of publicity: Tennessee's ELVIS Act (2024) explicitly protects voice and reaches tools whose primary purpose is producing unauthorized replicas, and California's 2024 laws void vague contract clauses authorizing replicas and protect deceased performers. In 2024 the US Copyright Office recommended a federal right, and the proposed NO FAKES Act would create one, with notice-and-takedown duties for online platforms.
The contract allowed a digital replica only for the reshoot scenes, with fresh consent for anything else.
Origin
Used as a legal term in New York's 2020 post-mortem right-of-publicity law, which regulated digital replicas of deceased performers; it became widely known through the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, in which control of digital replicas was a central issue.
Usage note
Distinguish from a deepfakedeepfake, n.: A fake but realistic video, photo or voice recording made with AI that puts words in a real person's mouth or shows them in a scene that never happened., which may depict anyone and is usually defined by deceptive intent or effect: a digital replica may be fully authorized, as when a performer licenses a voice. Sexual deepfakes are addressed separately by the TAKE IT DOWN ActTAKE IT DOWN Act, prop. n.: A 2025 US federal law that forces websites to remove intimate images of a person posted without consent, including AI-made fakes, within 48 hours of the victim's request, and makes posting them a crime..
Related
- deepfakedeepfake, n.: A fake but realistic video, photo or voice recording made with AI that puts words in a real person's mouth or shows them in a scene that never happened.
- voice cloningvoice cloning, n.: Using AI to copy a specific person's voice from recordings, so a computer can say new things that sound like them — useful for dubbing and accessibility, and abused in scams.
- synthetic mediasynthetic media, n.: Images, video, audio or text created or substantially altered by AI rather than recorded or written directly by people, whether for art, entertainment, business or deception.
- TAKE IT DOWN ActTAKE IT DOWN Act, prop. n.: A 2025 US federal law that forces websites to remove intimate images of a person posted without consent, including AI-made fakes, within 48 hours of the victim's request, and makes posting them a crime.
- AI authorshipAI authorship, n.: The question of whether a work or invention produced by AI can be protected by copyright or patent, and if so who counts as its author or inventor: the AI, the person using it, or no one.
- AI copyright litigationAI copyright litigation, n.: The many lawsuits in which authors, artists, news organizations, record labels and others accuse AI companies of copying their work without permission to build or run AI models.
Sources
- US Copyright Office (2024). Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 1: Digital Replicas.
Defined in law or standards
N.Y. Civil Rights Law § 50-f (2020); Tennessee Ensuring Likeness, Voice and Image Security (ELVIS) Act (2024)
Mentioned in
deepfakedeepfake, n.: A fake but realistic video, photo or voice recording made with AI that puts words in a real person's mouth or shows them in a scene that never happened., non-consensual intimate imagerynon-consensual intimate imagery, n.: Sexual or nude images of a real person that are shared, or made, without their consent — including fakes created with AI that show someone undressed or in sexual scenes., voice cloningvoice cloning, n.: Using AI to copy a specific person's voice from recordings, so a computer can say new things that sound like them — useful for dubbing and accessibility, and abused in scams., AI authorshipAI authorship, n.: The question of whether a work or invention produced by AI can be protected by copyright or patent, and if so who counts as its author or inventor: the AI, the person using it, or no one., NO FAKES ActNO FAKES Act, prop. n.: A proposed US law that would let people control AI-made copies of their voice and face, and would require websites to take down unauthorized fakes once notified., nudification appnudification app, n.: An app or AI tool that takes an ordinary photo of a real person and fakes a nude or sexual image of them, almost always without their consent., right of publicityright of publicity, n.: A person's legal power to decide whether businesses may use their name, face, voice or other recognizable traits to sell things, and to be paid when they do. AI's skill at copying voices and faces makes it more important., TAKE IT DOWN ActTAKE IT DOWN Act, prop. n.: A 2025 US federal law that forces websites to remove intimate images of a person posted without consent, including AI-made fakes, within 48 hours of the victim's request, and makes posting them a crime.