The FTC: deception, fake reviews and endorsements
Section 5 of the FTC Act bans unfair or deceptive practices, and the FTC has said there is no AI exemption. Its Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials (16 CFR Part 465), in effect since 21 October 2024, bans reviews and testimonials that misrepresent who wrote them or whether that person used the product, and the FTC has said this covers AI-generated fakes. Civil penalties apply per violation. The Endorsement Guides, revised in 2023, define an endorser as anyone who is or appears to be an individual, which the FTC says reaches virtual influencers. A synthetic brand ambassador therefore needs the brand relationship disclosed, and it cannot describe using a product, because nobody did.
Likeness and voice, state by state
Rights over a person's name, image and voice are set by the states, and they differ. Tennessee's ELVIS Act, in force since 1 July 2024, added voice, including simulated voice, to its publicity law. California protects living and deceased personalities and, since January 2025, has made contract terms that let a digital replica replace a performer's work unenforceable where the intended uses are not reasonably specific and the performer had no lawyer or union representing them. New York's General Business Law section 396-b, in force since 9 June 2026, requires advertisers who know an ad uses a synthetic performer to disclose it conspicuously, and the state now requires prior consent for digital replicas of deceased performers. Illinois' biometric privacy law covers face geometry and voiceprints. A federal NO FAKES Act has been proposed but not passed.
Copyright needs a human author
The US Copyright Office registers only human authorship. Its January 2025 report on copyrightability concluded that prompts alone do not make a user the author of the output, while human selection, arrangement and modification of generated material can be protected. Applicants must disclose AI-generated material that is more than minimal. The courts agree: the D.C. Circuit upheld the human-authorship requirement in Thaler v. Perlmutter in March 2025, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case in March 2026. In practice a purely generated background or pattern may be free for anyone to copy. Record the human creative decisions behind key assets, protect characters and logos as trade marks, and make sure agency and supplier contracts assign whatever rights exist.
Children, calls, broadcast loudness and state privacy
The FTC's amended COPPA Rule, with compliance required from 22 April 2026, treats a photo, video or audio file containing a child's image or voice as personal information, so any child-directed campaign that invites uploads needs verifiable parental consent. The FCC ruled in February 2024 that AI-generated voices count as artificial voices under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, so calls using them need prior express consent. The CALM Act requires TV ads to match programme loudness under ATSC A/85. State privacy laws, led by California's CCPA as amended by the CPRA, give people rights over personal and sensitive data used in campaigns. Synthetic White offers US data residency, and a private VPC or on-premise deployment where recordings must stay in-house.
Updated 25 September 2026 · General information, not legal advice. Rules change, so check the current text with your legal team before relying on it.