Illinois Musicians Sue AI Companies Over Unauthorized Voiceprint Use
Musicians in Illinois are suing artificial intelligence companies under the state's biometric privacy law, claiming the firms collected and used their voiceprints without permission. The lawsuits target Suno Inc., Uncharted Labs Inc., and Google.
The cases represent a novel legal strategy. Rather than pursuing copyright or fair use arguments, plaintiffs are leveraging the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), which has proven effective against tech companies in the past.
Why Biometric Claims Matter
Matthew Kugler, a professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, explained the advantage of this approach. "The biometric case turns on exactly what did you collect, it turns on nothing to do with fair use," he said.
Fair use defenses typically protect companies that repurpose existing works for new purposes. Biometric claims sidestep that entirely by focusing on whether companies collected personal identifying information without consent.
The central legal question: Do voiceprints qualify as biometric information in the same way fingerprints or face scans do? Musicians will need to prove that voiceprints can identify them as uniquely as those other biometric markers.
Precedent Exists
Illinois courts have already recognized voiceprints as personally identifiable information. Whole Foods Market Group settled a lawsuit for nearly $300,000 after using warehouse employees' voiceprints to verify identities without consent.
Tech companies have paid multimillion-dollar settlements under BIPA for facial recognition use in recent years. TikTok Inc. and other firms faced significant liability under the same law.
For legal professionals handling AI for Legal matters, these cases establish that biometric privacy claims offer a distinct path separate from copyright litigation. Teams working on class actions may benefit from understanding AI Learning Path for Paralegals to manage document discovery and case analysis at scale.
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