HB 1399: Georgia Likeness, Expression, Generative AI, and Commercial Yield (LEGACY) Act; enact

Georgia currently has no comprehensive statute addressing unauthorized AI-generated copies of a person's likeness, sometimes called deepfakes. This bill would add a new article to Georgia's trade practices law (O.C.G.A. Title 10, Chapter 1) called the Georgia Likeness, Expression, Generative AI, and Commercial Yield (LEGACY) Act. The bill declares that every individual owns a property right to their own likeness, including their face, voice, mannerisms, and distinctive physical features. That right can be transferred, licensed, or inherited, and lasts 50 years after death. Creating or distributing a 'digital replica,' a realistic AI-made or altered copy of someone's likeness, for commercial purposes would require the person's specific written consent, even if the person is not paid. Anyone who keeps distributing a replica after being told the person did not consent would be violating the law. People harmed by violations could sue for actual damages, punitive damages, injunctions, and attorney's fees. The law would take effect July 1, 2026.

• Creates a property right for every individual in their own likeness, including image, voice, signature, and distinctive physical features.
• Requires specific written consent before a person's likeness can be used in a commercial AI-generated 'digital replica,' regardless of whether they are paid.
• Makes the property right transferable, licensable, and inheritable, lasting 50 years after the individual's death, with post-mortem use requiring consent from the person, their estate, or a legal representative.
• Prohibits anyone from claiming ownership or authorship rights over a person's likeness just because they used it in a digital replica.
• Makes it a violation to keep distributing a digital replica after receiving notice that the person did not consent to its use.
• Creates a private right of action letting harmed individuals sue for actual damages, punitive damages, injunctive relief, and attorney's fees and costs.

Georgia residents whose faces, voices, or other identifying features could be copied by AI; companies and individuals that create or distribute AI-generated content, including entertainment, advertising, and tech businesses; performers and public figures whose likenesses are commercially valuable; and estates and legal representatives handling a deceased person's likeness rights.

Georgians would gain a legal tool to stop or seek compensation for unauthorized AI deepfakes of their face or voice used for commercial purposes, even without proof of payment or endorsement. Businesses using AI-generated likenesses would need documented consent or face lawsuits, injunctions, and potential punitive damages.

• Section 1 lays out legislative findings that Georgia lacks statutory protection against unauthorized AI-generated likenesses and that such use can cause economic and dignity harms.
• Section 2 adds new Code Section 10-1-970 stating the law's name and purpose: balancing protection from unauthorized AI use with freedom of expression and innovation.
• Code Section 10-1-971 defines key terms including 'consent' (requiring specific written assent, not implied by silence or general terms), 'digital replica,' 'generative artificial intelligence,' and 'likeness.'
• Code Section 10-1-972 establishes the property right in likeness, makes it transferable and inheritable, and limits it to 50 years after death with consent requirements for post-mortem use.
• Code Section 10-1-973 requires consent for commercial digital replicas, bars false implication of endorsement, and lists remedies including actual damages, punitive damages, equitable relief, and attorney's fees.
• Section 3 sets the effective date as July 1, 2026.
• Section 4 repeals any conflicting Georgia laws.

1. 2026-02-24House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-02-20House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-19House Hopper (House)

• Carl Gilliard (D, HD-162)Primary sponsor
• Long Tran (D, HD-080)
• Segun Adeyina (D, HD-110)

• artificial intelligence
• deepfakes
• right of publicity
• privacy rights
• digital likeness