To combat AI-generated clones and deepfakes, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has filed an application to register her voice as a trademark, reports Politico.The application, submitted to the European Union Intellectual Property Office on the 5th of October, includes a four-second voice recording in which Meloni is heard saying, “Io sono Giorgia Meloni” . This phrase is the title of her 2021 autobiography and was originally spoken during the 2019 election campaign; it was later used in a widely popular disco track.The move follows years of Meloni being the target of various forms of manipulated media. In 2024, a court summoned Meloni to testify in a case involving the use of her image in alleged pornographic deepfakes. Also in May of this year, other sexually explicit AI-generated images circulated online, including one showing the Italian Prime Minister in her underwear. In a Facebook post, Meloni warned that deepfakes can affect and mislead anyone. She wrote that while she is able to defend herself, many others cannot.Amendments to the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act, approved in July, require deepfakes to be clearly labeled as such and ban AI systems that generate sexualized images, videos, or audio of identifiable individuals without their consent.If Meloni’s claim is upheld, it will provide the Prime Minister with legal grounds to challenge the unauthorized commercial use of the protected material. However, it will not grant her comprehensive control over every AI-generated imitation of her voice, nor will it make the creation of deepfakes a criminal offense.
Italian Prime Minister files trademark application for her voice · BNN
