Taylor Swift is trademarking her voice, image to ward off AI deepfakes

Pop icon Taylor Swift has taken legal action against unauthorized AI content by filing trademark applications to protect her voice and likeness, mirroring similar moves by Matthew McConaughey.

Swift’s filing includes two specific audio clips promoting her album, The Life of a Showgirl, and an onstage image of her in a sparkly bodysuit and strumming a pink guitar.

The move follows incidents where Swift was targeted by deepfake cookware ads and sexually explicit AI-generated images that went viral on social media.

Legal experts note that sound marks, which are trademarks on audio, were historically reserved for brand jingles like NBC’s chimes.

Swift’s attempt to register her spoken voice marks a significant, largely untested legal frontier in intellectual property law.