Professor Victoria Schwartz Quoted in "LeBron James Sent a Y Combinator-Backed Startup a Cease-and-Desist Letter" -- Inc.

Professor Victoria L. Schwartz is quoted in the Inc. article, "LeBron James Sent a Y Combinator-Backed Startup a Cease-and-Desist Letter. That May Have Been the Point."  The article considers a cease-and-desist letter that the NBA star sent to Bron AI, a sports-betting analytics app, after it used an AI-generated version of his likeness and voice in a promotional video without permission.

Excerpt from "LeBron James Sent a Y Combinator-Backed Startup a Cease-and-Desist Letter. That May Have Been the Point"

Victoria Schwartz, a professor of law at Pepperdine University’s Caruso School of Law, said AI-generated celebrity imitations are generally subject to the same right-of-publicity protections as traditional advertisements. Although those protections vary by state, using AI doesn’t necessarily change the underlying legal question.

“It kind of doesn’t matter if it is done using AI or using other technology,” Schwartz told Inc. 

She pointed to a previous case involving Samsung, which used a robot resembling television personality Vanna White in an advertisement. Although the robot wasn’t a direct physical replica, a federal appeals court allowed White’s common-law right-of-publicity claim to proceed because the advertisement evoked her identity.

“[Bron AI] clearly evokes LeBron James in a similar way, using AI to make something look like him from context,” Schwartz said. “If they do it’s a slam dunk no matter what. Even if they don’t, he still has a claim in the same way that Vanna White did for states that protect identity.”

The complete article may be found at Inc.com