Creativity Squared: On A.I. and Novel Likeness Protection

Dear Creativity Squared Collective —

Hope this finds you well wherever in the world you’re reading this!

This past weekend was the ArtsWave Truth & Innovation Artist Showcase. Celebrating the original artwork of 25 BIPOC artists commissioned through ArtsWave’s Black and Brown Artist Grant program, the visual arts exhibition will be open and free to the public through September 7th, and I can’t recommend it enough. The program bridges cultural divides through art, and Creativity Squared is a proud supporter — check out our interview series with previous award recipients.

In light of Truth & Innovation, I’ve been thinking a lot about Denmark which has an innovative approach to protecting people’s privacy and likeness.

What are your digital rights? 

Depending on the country in which you reside, online rights can vary significantly, with European countries having the most extensive rights under the GDPR. Now, with the proliferation of A.I. and deepfakes, lawmakers worldwide are working to figure out how to protect people's privacy and likeness — and there may be an interesting implication of what this means for LLM training data too.

Following the Taylor Swift pornographic deepfake from January 2024, we’ve seen legislation pop up in the states to protect people against A.I. abuse. To date, here in the US, we have several key pieces of legislation emerging. The Tennessee ELVIS Act (Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act), signed into law in March 2024, represents groundbreaking legislation that specifically protects individuals from unauthorized A.I.-generated likenesses, including deepfakes and voice clones. This first-of-its-kind law extends Tennessee's existing right of publicity protections to explicitly cover A.I.-generated digital representations, making it a Class A misdemeanor to use A.I. to clone someone's voice without consent.

At the federal level, the Take It Down Act was signed by President Trump in May 2025, criminalizing nonconsensual deepfake imagery and mandating social media companies remove such material within 48 hours of notification. Congress is also considering the NO FAKES Act in the Senate and the No AI FRAUD Act in the House, both aimed at establishing federal rights of publicity against digital replicas.

To the backdrop of this, major A.I. companies are pushing for the “fair use” defense to train their models on copyrighted content on the internet. But what does this mean if you can copyright your likeness?

Trump has already fired Shira Perlmutter, the director of the U.S. Copyright Office, just days after her office released a report questioning these companies' reliance on their "fair use" defenses. Elon Musk has even called to “delete all IP” entirely!

While big tech is attempting to get their way with fair use and avoid any and all accountability of training on copyrighted material, if they get the full green light, it’s a move that could fundamentally reshape protections for creators and artists.

Despite copyright protections being under threat in the US, an interesting approach has emerged out of Denmark to protect people from being deepfaked: let citizens copyright their face, voice, and body.

In June 2025, Denmark announced novel plans to amend its copyright laws to give every citizen property rights over their own likeness.

Danish Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt explained the rationale: "Human beings can be run through the digital copy machine and be misused for all sorts of purposes and I'm not willing to accept that. In the bill we agree and are sending an unequivocal message that everybody has the right to their own body, their own voice, and their own facial features."

This is aimed so regular people, and not just celebrities like Scarlett Johansson, can better combat deepfakes. Under the proposed law, Danish citizens would gain legal authority to request removal of nonconsensual deepfake content from digital platforms, with potential financial remedies for victims. The legislation extends protection to cover unauthorized artificial recreations of artistic performances while preserving exemptions for parody and satirical content.

I find Denmark's approach really interesting! If people can copyright their likeness, then this also has implications for what the LLMs get trained on — which goes beyond the US’s deepfake reactive measures and gets down to the training data.

While I haven’t seen this in the articles I’ve read, and assuming copyright protections hold up (which I know is a big assumption right now in the US!), this could mean a blanket protection for people from A.I. companies that could no longer train on user photos, audio, and videos. Essentially, this could make the default “opt out” for user-generated content featuring users to train models.

One man, Tom Graham, became the first person to file for copyright protection of his A.I. likeness — and get it. This is on his A.I.-cloned digital assets and not just on his own likeness, but it could help his A.I. likeness assets avoid being trained on LLM models in a similar vein.

While we’re in the early days of Denmark's proposed legislation, I think it’s worth following and exploring for the US market too. If Europe picks this up in a way similar to GDPR, then we may even see that the protections extend outside of Europe for any European publishing content. The timing of Denmark’s move is particularly notable as Denmark holds the EU presidency through December 2025, positioning the country to potentially push this approach across Europe.

In general, I’m pro Denmark’s move to strengthen individual rights over people’s digital likeness, especially as we see a push in the US for weaker, if any at all, copyright protections.

As A.I. technology continues to evolve rapidly, the question isn't just about protecting celebrities or artists anymore – it's about whether ordinary citizens will have any control over how their faces, voices, and likenesses are used by increasingly powerful A.I. systems, from training data to deepfakes. Denmark's groundbreaking legislation suggests one path forward, and we’ll see how widely it gets adopted and if there are any other novel legislation approaches to unfold too.

Two shameless plugs: book me as a speaker for your next event and pre-order my forthcoming book on the Imagination Age today!

Until next week, here’s to playing in the playground of possibility and manifesting more magic in 2025! 🪄✨ 

-Helen

Helen Todd (she/her)
Human behind Creativity Squared
linkedin / twitter / pinterest / Instagram / threads
CreativitySquared.com
youtube / instagram / facebook / tiktok
How creatives are collaborating with A.I.

Start learning AI in 2025

Keeping up with AI is hard – we get it!

That’s why over 1M professionals read Superhuman AI to stay ahead.

• Get daily AI news, tools, and tutorials

• Learn new AI skills you can use at work in 3 mins a day

• Become 10X more productive

Sign up and start mastering AI

💝 PRE-ORDER YOUR BOOK

Become a Creativity Squared and #ImaginationAge supporter today! Pre-order my forthcoming book as a crowd-funded advance, enabling me to bring it to life. The book is based on my SXSW presentation of the same name, “Farewell, Information Age — Welcome to the Imagination Age.” Your financial support enables the movement and this independent female voice to champion it — thank you to everyone’s who’s already ordered a copy!

💝 SUPPORT CREATIVITY SQUARED & ARTSWAVE

How can you support this show? I’m so glad you asked! ☺️

Here are a few ways you can contribute to this independent female voice’s platform who’s championing Responsible A.I. and a human-centered future where it’s Dolly Parton and Holly Herndon — protectors of dreams and generative in their generosity and work — ushering in the #ImaginationAge (not AI ushering in the Intelligence Age, where humans are erased, starting with the framing…but I digress!).

Please consider supporting Creativity Squared in whatever way you can and would like to:

✅ Subscribe to the Creativity Squared YouTube channel (one day in the near future, I’ll be making money from this channel!)

🎨 I want to live in a world where artists not only coexist with A.I., but thrive. And because it’s important to support artists, 10% of all revenue Creativity Squared generates goes to ArtsWave, a nationally recognized non-profit that supports over 150 arts organizations, projects, and independent artists. Consider becoming a Premium Member today or making a one-time tip!

🦋 I'm SUPER excited to share that my SXSW presentation, Farewell, Information Age — Welcome to the Imagination Age, is becoming a book! 📗 The conversations on my podcast Creativity Squared have informed many of the concepts. Pre-order your copy today as a crowd-funded advance to support an independent female voice. Your support will enable me to bring this idea to life — and is greatly appreciated! 🥰💛

🎉 And as a reminder, when you support this show, you’re also supporting ArtsWave! Because it’s important to support artists, 10% of all revenue Creativity Squared generates goes to ArtsWave, a nationally recognized non-profit that supports over 150 arts organizations, projects, and independent artists. For the third year in a row, we’re proud to partner with ArtsWave to also amplify the phenomenal artists selected for their 2025 Black and Brown Artist Program, elevating underrepresented voices and bridging cultural divides through art. You can get caught up on previous years’ ArtsWave interview series here!

🚀 Interested in becoming a sponsor of Creativity Squared? Reach out!

👍 AFFILIATE RECOMMENDATIONS 

💝 Using these links also supports Creativity Squared, and we only recommend what we actually back!

🐝 We use Beehiiv for this newsletter and are big fans! (If you’re not aware of Substack’s racist issues, this NYT article is for you.)

🎙 Riverside is the platform we use for recording podcast episodes, and recommend the web-based software!

🎶 Play Audio Agency, headquartered in Cincinnati, is home to the team that helps produce the show and are audio rock stars!

🖥 Need a new website or the slightest of help on your current site? Check out e9 Digital — they created, and help us host and manage Creativity Squared’s website! They know how to make accessible websites which I love. Mention Creativity Squared for 20% off too!

📆 EVENTS, A.I. CONFERENCES & MORE! 

🤝 AUGUST 5 CincyAI for Humans (CincyAI, #CincyAI), August meetup, Cincinnati (Co-Host)

🤝 SEPTEMBER 2 CincyAI for Humans (CincyAI, #CincyAI), September meetup, Cincinnati (Co-Host)
🎤 SEPTEMBER 10-11 MidwestCon (#MidwestCon), Cincinnati (CincyAI Community Partner)
📍 SEPTEMBER 24-26 TEDAI Vienna, Vienna, Austria
📍 SEPTEMBER 26 OhioX Ohio Tech Day (OhioX, #OhioX), Columbus

For the full calendar, check it out here!

Interested in having me speak at your event or host a workshop for your organization? Reach out!

🗞 PRESS & PODCAST INTERVIEWS

📺 BBC News (June 5, 2025) — What is the future of digital clones? 

🎤 SXSW 2025 (March 11, 2025) “Farewell, Information Age — Welcome to the Imagination Age”:

🎙 Fulcra Dynamics podcast, “The Augmented Life,” with CEO Michael Tiffany (April 29, 2025) — The Imagination Age Is Here: Reclaiming Attention, Creativity, and the Future of AI with Helen Todd

🎙 AI Explored with Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner (November 5, 2024) — Using AI to Expand Your Ideas and Creativity 

🎙 Reflections with an Accent with Kike Calvo (October 18, 2024) — Unveiling AI's Creative Power with Helen Todd | Reflections with an Accent 

🏆 Cincinnati Business Courier’s Fire Awards (May 2025) — Finalist in “Disruptor” category for CincyAI for Humans

🏆 Aviatra Accelerators (September 5, 2024) — Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award 

📖 Movers & Makers Magazine (October 1, 2024) — Notables in AI + Print

📖 Cincinnati Magazine + Print (December 19, 2023) — Clone Wars + Print

🖥 SXSW Conference Community Newsletter (December 5, 2024) — SXSW 2025 Speaker Helen Todd talks Digital Twins

🖥 UC News (July 5, 2024) — Mayor Pureval, Rob Richardson lead ethical AI symposium

🖥 UC News (June 4, 2024) — Community of AI enthusiasts expands in Cincinnati

🖥 AdAge (April 15, 2024) — The Dalí Museum used AI to recreate Salvador Dalí’s voice—so you can ask him anything

🖥 UC Office of Research (February 28, 2024) — CincyAI and Digital Futures Partnership: Growing AI Talent in our Region & Beyond 

Listen: Ep.75 BBL Drizzy, A.I. & Manifesting A.I.: Discover How Will Hatcher Manifested His Way to a Time100 A.I. 2024 Honoree

Apple | Spotify | YouTube | Pandora | Amazon | Google | SoundCloud | iHeart Radio

“If you're trying to play life safe, then I don't think you can fully experience life, you know. So you gotta go to places that you never been before, be in uncomfortable situations, because that's where the real growth is.” -King Willonius

Discover the magic of manifesting in a Creativity Squared exclusive interview from the ONLY comedian (and one of two artists!) who’s a Time100 AI 2024 honoree in the Innovators category: King Willonius. 👑 

His real name is Willonius Hatcher (his first name is pronounced “Will-OWN-ee-us,” and he also goes by Will). 2024 has been a breakout year for Will after his “BBL Drizzy” comedy song went viral — the first song made in collaboration with A.I. that became a cultural phenomenon, transcending genres and mediums!  

What do Burning Man, Dune 2, and the Frost Planetarium have to do with his story? Listen in to our 75th episode — and the last one for 2024! — to find out.

Creativity Squared interviewed Will live at the FilmGate Miami Interactive Festival XI, one of the top ten immersive festivals in the world! You’ll hear why it’s so special from the festival’s Head Curator, Co-Founder, and Executive Producer, Diliana Alexander. 

On opening night, the FilmGate Miami audience got a preview of the “BBL Drizzy Musical Dome Experience”. Next year, Creativity Squared will be back to see the full production and host another time capsule conversation with Will. 

Once you check out the interview, you’ll know that Will is just scratching the surface of what’s possible — he’s ahead of the entertainment industries, and is definitely one to follow!

Why did he make the Time100 AI 2024 Innovators list? 

For Creativity Squared Founder and Podcast Host, Helen Todd’s take, check out the dedicated blog post accompanying this episode (we recommend starting with this first 😉):

Our 2025 podcast season will kick off again in April, but we’ll keep the newsletter going between now and then, aside from the holidays.

Here’s to manifesting more magic in the new year — enjoy! 💝🪄✨

Become a Premium Member to Unlock Exclusive Content and Claim Your NFT

Become a Premium Member to unlock exclusive content and to claim your NFTs of episode cover art!

At $10 per month or discounted to $100 for annual memberships, Premium Members enjoy other benefits too:

• $1 per month (or $10 per year) to ArtsWave

• Premium Member NFT

• First-Dibs at Event Invites

• Access to Monthly Exclusive Content (e.g. Helen’s Monthly Must-Know Video Report on the hottest A.I. news)

• Discounts from Creativity Squared Partners

• Thank You by Name in the Creativity Squared Newsletter

There is also a VIP Founding Member tier for those who want lifetime first dibs and access to Creativity Squared content, events, and whatever we dream up!

Because it’s important to support artists, 10% of all revenue Creativity Squared generates will go to ArtsWave, a nationally recognized non-profit that supports over 100 arts organizations.

Subscribe to Premium to read the rest.