Lehrman And Indian Celebs: How Personality Rights Are Getting Real

1. Introduction

Imagine if Siri or Google Assistant could have the voice of Jagjit Singh or Alka Yagnik where the voice's of legendary performers are cloned by using AI tools, reproduced endlessly, and sold to the highest bidder without consent or credit, this has become a reality!! The essence of what makes their artistry unique would be reduced to data, stripped of its soul, and commercialised in ways they never agreed to.

That's what unfolded in the case of Lehrman v. Lovo¹ which has become a quintessential moment in the conversation around AI & Identity as a part of intellectual property. At its core, the dispute revolved around allegations that Lovo, an AI platform, had misled 2 voice actors Lehrman and Linnea into providing recordings for "research purposes only," before repurposing them into digital clones for commercial use. These cloned voices, were marketed with full commercial rights to subscribers, raising difficult questions about deception,