Scope definition
What uses are permitted? Which genres? Which platforms? Which geographies? "General consent" is legally fragile. Specific, bounded consent is defensible.
AI can generate likenesses. The question is whether it should — and under what terms. This guide covers the consent problem, the legal landscape, and how a per-shot license-in-provenance model addresses the risk that most AI video tools ignore entirely.
AI video generators can produce content that features human-like faces, voices, and mannerisms. Most do not ask — or answer — a fundamental question: whose likeness is this, and did they consent?
This is not a theoretical concern. It is a legal liability that scales with distribution. A clip on your hard drive is low-risk. A clip distributed across social platforms, embedded in advertising, or used in commercial content creates exposure under right-of-publicity laws, personality rights frameworks, and emerging AI-specific legislation.
Real consent for an AI likeness is more than "they said yes." It requires specifics:
What uses are permitted? Which genres? Which platforms? Which geographies? "General consent" is legally fragile. Specific, bounded consent is defensible.
Can the talent revoke consent? Under what conditions? What happens to content already produced? These questions need answers before production, not after a dispute.
Is the talent compensated? Per-use? Per-shot? Flat fee? Ongoing royalties? The compensation model affects both legal standing and talent willingness to participate.
How do you prove consent existed at the time of production? A verbal agreement does not survive legal scrutiny. A signed, timestamped attestation attached to the specific shot does.
Most US states recognize some form of right of publicity — the right to control commercial use of one's name, image, and likeness. These laws predate AI but apply directly to AI-generated likenesses. The burden of proof for authorized use falls on the person who used the likeness.
Enacted 2024. Explicitly covers AI-generated voices and likenesses. Creates criminal and civil liability for unauthorized use. Tennessee's law is significant because it was the first to explicitly address AI generation of likenesses, setting a precedent other states are following.
SAG-AFTRA's 2023 contract included provisions on AI-generated likenesses of performers. The direction is clear: consent, compensation, and control are non-negotiable for professional talent. The guild framework is evolving, but the trajectory — toward required consent and tracked compensation for AI likenesses — is established.
The solution is not "just get consent." It is making consent verifiable at the granularity where it was exercised — per shot.
When a production uses a licensed AI likeness, the license should be attested in the provenance chain of the specific shot where that likeness appears. Not in a separate document. Not in a database that could be edited after the fact. In the shot's C2PA manifest, signed and tamper-evident.
Which likeness is used. Linked to a consent record, not to a face embedding that could be fabricated.
What uses are permitted, which restrictions apply, what compensation model governs. Encoded in the attestation, not in a separate agreement.
This specific shot, at this timestamp, used this likeness under these terms. Independently verifiable without trusting the producer's claim.
CAST is V8-MOTION's consent and royalty framework for AI talent. It is designed as an integration pathway — the infrastructure for consent-verified likeness licensing with per-shot attestation in the C2PA provenance chain.
Talent registers with explicit consent terms: permitted uses, restrictions, geographies, compensation model. These terms are encoded and enforced at the production layer.
Every shot that uses a CAST talent carries a license attestation in its C2PA manifest. The attestation is signed, timestamped, and tamper-evident. It travels with the content.
Usage tracked per shot. Compensation computed automatically based on license terms. Stripe Connect integration for payouts. The talent sees a usage dashboard.
If a license prohibits certain genres, geographies, or use types, the restriction is enforced at the generation layer — shots that would violate terms are blocked before they are produced.
Every likeness verified. Every shot attested. Every royalty tracked.