Matthew Parham, a professional voice actor, was among dozens of artists and creators from across California who traveled to Sacramento to witness the Senate Privacy, Technology, and Consumer Protection Committee vote in favor of legislation that would require developers of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) models to disclose the copyrighted materials used to train their systems.
Authored by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda), Assembly Bill (AB) 412, the AI Copyright Transparency Act, passed the Senate committee with a 6-2 vote on June 8 at the Capitol Annex Swing Space. The measure now moves to the Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration.
Parham told California Black Media (CBM) that he serves as director of operations for the National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA), a coalition of performers who use their voices to portray characters, provide narration, or create sound effects.
“Voice actors are in a unique situation. No one in America owns the right to their voice. You can legally steal someone’s voice,” Parham told CBM. “This bill is essential. There is no legal protection for your voice right now.”
Parham elaborated on the challenges voice actors face in protecting their work.
“For example, I voice video games. I can’t copyright it because I’m not the developer, but my biometric data is contained within that video game,’ Parham added.
Artists and creators from Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland, San Francisco, Sacramento, and other communities attended the committee hearing.
AB 412 is co-sponsored by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), which represents approximately 160,000 media professionals worldwide.
Bauer-Kahan, SAG-AFTRA, and the Transparency Coalition argue that the bill does not alter federal copyright law. Instead, AB 412, supporters argue, establishes state-level transparency requirements.
At its core, AB 412 would require GenAI developers to document the copyrighted materials used to train their models, including systems capable of replicating a person’s vocal characteristics to generate synthetic speech that sounds like professional voice talent.
“I introduced AB 412 for one simple reason. I believe in copyright law, and I believe in the right of copyright owners to have a right to know whether their materials are used to train GenAI,” said Bauer-Kahan, who is an attorney.
According to Parham, AB 412 would allow voice actors and other creators to request comprehensive lists of their registered works used in AI training datasets. The bill would also authorize creators to sue developers who refuse to provide that information.
