The Japan Actors Union has issued new rules, guidelines, and restrictions related to AI-generated voice use. This includes an outright ban on the replication of the voices of dead actors, unless the actor had authorised its use during their lifetime.

Per Automaton, these guidelines are meant to protect an industry that has been exposed to exploitation by generative AI. One example includes voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda (Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man) taking Tiktok to court in an attempt to remove AI-generated voice imitations from the platform. He would go on to lose that case, but not without setting a precedent that a person’s voice is subject to protection under publicity rights laws.

The guidelines cover four major points. The first is focused on consent and establishes that permission must be granted at “every stage” of the generative AI process. This would mean AI companies require permission from actors before models are trained on their performances.

The second point, meanwhile, states that AI replications of an actor’s work are to be counted as a new performance under the guidelines. This would mean royalties or compensation must be paid by AI companies to the actors involved.

Next up comes generative AI-powered translations, which takes an actor’s performance and automatically changes it to another language. These must maintain the “artistic integrity” of the original performance, the guidelines state, and may not be used without permission in overseas regions.

Lastly, the Japan Actors Union covers generative AI use regarding a dead actor’s work. The union’s guidelines ban the use of generative AI here, unless that actor had given express permission for the software’s use while they were alive. Even with this, an AI company would require permission from the deceased actor’s family, the agency or company the actor was affiliated with, and to pay royalties.

“The Japan Actors Union will strive to not just establish these guidelines as industry-wide rules, but also strengthen its efforts to encourage the government to legislate regulations that protect ‘voice rights’,” wrote The Japan Actors Union (translated by Automaton). “Technological advancements will not stop, but the ‘living, breathing human expression’ and a ‘respect for rights’ must always remain at its core.”

It is worth noting that these guidelines are not laws and therefore are not binding rules AI companies must follow. Even so, it marks a major push from the Japan Actors Union for this to change. These new guidelines contribute to mounting pressure against the generative AI industry in Japan, as actors continue to push for better protections.

Japan’s Voice Actor Union is not the only one pushing back against generative AI. In Western countries, similar collectives have been speaking out about the technologies’ impact on the field, with one describing it as “catastrophic”.