Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey has taken steps to safeguard his image and voice from unauthorized exploitation by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms through trademarking.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), clips, including his iconic catchphrase “alright, alright, alright” from the 1993 film *Dazed and Confused*, have been registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Legal representatives and experts suggest that this marks the first instance of an actor employing trademark law to shield their likeness from AI misuse.
Numerous celebrities across Hollywood and the music industry, including Scarlett Johansson and Taylor Swift, have faced a surge in fake videos, audio recordings, and images online generated by AI tools.
Lawyers representing the *Magic Mike* star told the WSJ that while they are not currently aware of specific instances of McConaughey’s likeness being manipulated by AI, they anticipate that the trademarks will offer broad protection against any unauthorized reproductions.
Kevin Yorn, one of McConaughey’s lawyers, informed AFP that a secondary objective is to “capture some of the value that is being created with this new technology.”
In an email to the newspaper, McConaughey stated, “My team and I want to know that when my voice or likeness is ever used, it’s because I approved and signed off on it.”
He added, “We want to create a clear perimeter around ownership with consent and attribution the norm in an AI world.”
AFP reports that several clips were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by the *Dallas Buyers Club* actor and his wife, Camila.
Alina Trapova, an assistant professor specializing in copyright law at University College London, concurs that this is likely the first instance of an actor attempting to leverage trademark law for protection against AI.
Trapova, who has worked on copyright and AI issues for over eight years, told the BBC that AI poses a significant challenge for celebrities. While they may object to unauthorized AI use “due to reputational reasons,” for Hollywood stars, “it is often a case of missed licensing opportunities.”
She explained that celebrities are exploring various protection strategies as “unauthorized commercialization” of their likeness in the form of deepfakes becomes “more and more challenging in the age of AI.”
McConaughey does not hold a staunchly adversarial stance toward generative AI.
According to the 56-year-old, he has held a stake in ElevenLabs, a software company specializing in AI voice modeling, “for several years now.”
The company has, with his consent, created an AI audio version of the *Interstellar* actor.
Dr. Sandra Wachter, professor of technology and regulation at the University of Oxford, anticipates that others in the creative industries may follow McConaughey’s lead in the future.
“It is simple for companies to take your work and train a model to do your job. It is comparatively difficult for you to protect your work in the first place,” she told the BBC.
AI-generated images and deepfakes are an increasing concern within the entertainment industry.
In 2024, Scarlett Johansson expressed feeling “shocked” and “angered” when OpenAI launched a chatbot with a voice “eerily similar” to her own.
OpenAI subsequently removed the voice, maintaining that it was not intended as an “imitation” of the Avengers star.
In June 2025, Disney and Universal initiated legal action against AI firm Midjourney over its image generator, which the Hollywood studios alleged was a “bottomless pit of plagiarism.”
Additionally, last year, an AI video generator on Elon Musk’s X social media platform faced accusations of making “a deliberate choice” to create sexually explicit clips of Taylor Swift without prompting.
According to The Verge, Grok Imagine’s “spicy” mode “didn’t hesitate to spit out fully uncensored topless videos” of the pop star without being asked.
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