Why has Taylor Swift filed ‘sound marks’ for her voice? You can watch a few reasons why in this blog post by deepfake experts Copyleaks.
It tracks some of the “AI-manipulated ads” it has found circulating on TikTok featuring deepfakes of celebrities including Swift, Rihanna and Kim Kardashian promoting “potentially fraudulent or malicious services”.
“The celebrities appear to be in interviews — on red carpets, podcasts, or talk shows – where real footage has been repurposed and manipulated using AI,” it reported.
“In several ads, TikTok’s official branding is also used when the ad is clicked on. However, the user is redirected to a third-party service that appears to be vibe-coded… These pages then prompt users to enter their name and personal information.”
The blog post offers tips on spotting these deepfakes: unnatural physical details, audio mismatches, flickering and warped backgrounds etc. But for people who don’t know these tells, there is plenty of potential to fall victim to the scams.
Filing for trademarks on likeness and voice may help celebrities to get these posts taken down a bit faster – and pursue the scammers legally if they can be identified – but policing these scams already feels like a daunting task.
