Japanese Court Upholds Legal Protection for Voice in AI Imitation Case

A Tokyo court has affirmed for the first time in Japanese judicial practice that an AI's unauthorized imitation of a human voice infringes on rights. The ruling on September 30 came in a case where Japanese voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda sued TikTok.

The situation arose when AI imitating Tsuda's recognizable voice was used in multiple TikTok videos without his permission. Tsuda, known for his over 30-year career in numerous animations and games, claimed his distinctive deep voice had been cloned and used as a narrator for the videos. While the court partially acknowledged Tsuda's claims, it did not order TikTok to remove the videos, as the account in question had already been deleted.

According to the court's decision, using a voice without the performer's consent is considered an infringement of personality rights. This marks the first time such a case has been tried in Japan. Tsuda's legal team argued that the AI voice attracted attention to questionable content, while TikTok's representatives contended that the voice used was merely "general male" and not clearly identifiable as Tsuda.

The case highlights growing concerns about the impact of AI technology development on creative professionals. Although Japan actively promotes AI development, many in the industry fear their work and image are being unlawfully used to train AI without adequate protection. Previously, Japanese authorities have requested that copyrighted content not be used to train AI models.