Alina Trapova, an assistant professor in copyright law at University College London, also believes it to be first time an actor has attempted to use trademark law to their benefit against AI.
Trapova has worked on copyright and AI for more than eight years. She told the BBC that AI is a big problem for celebrities, saying that they may object to unauthorised AI “due to reputational reasons”, but for Hollywood stars it “is often a case of missed licensing opportunities”.
She said celebrities are experimenting with different forms of protection as “unauthorised commercialisation” of their likeness in the forms of deepfakes becomes “more and more challenging in the age of AI”.
McConaughey is not a hardline opponent of generative AI.
He has a stake in ElevenLabs, a software company specialising in AI voice modelling “for several years now”, according to the 56-year-old.
The company has created an AI audio version of the ‘Interstellar’ actor, with his permission.
Dr Sandra Wachter, professor of technology and regulation at the University of Oxford, says she would not be surprised if others in the creative industries did the same as McConaughey 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.