HB1399: HB1399 Georgia Likeness, Expression, Generative AI, and Commercial Yield (LEGACY) Act; enact

Georgia courts have long recognized a right to control commercial use of one's name, voice, and likeness, but state law has no comprehensive framework covering AI-generated 'deepfakes' or synthetic media. This bill would add a new article to Georgia's trade practices code (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 has a property right in their own likeness, which can be transferred, licensed, or inherited and lasts 50 years after death. Creating, distributing, or exploiting a person's likeness in a realistic AI-generated 'digital replica' for commercial purposes would require the person's specific written consent, not just agreement to general terms and conditions. Anyone who knowingly keeps distributing a digital replica after being told the person did not consent would violate the law. People harmed by violations could sue for actual damages, punitive damages, an injunction, and attorney's fees. The law would take effect July 1, 2026.

• Creates a legal property right for every Georgia resident in their own likeness, including their face, voice, mannerisms, and speech patterns.
• Requires specific, written consent before an individual's likeness can be used to create an AI-generated 'digital replica' for commercial purposes.
• Makes the property right in a person's likeness transferable, licensable, and inheritable for 50 years after the person's death, with post-mortem use requiring consent from the person's estate or legal representative.
• Bans anyone from claiming ownership or exclusive rights over a person's likeness just because they used it to make a digital replica.
• Creates a private right of action letting harmed individuals sue for actual damages, punitive damages, injunctions, and attorney's fees.
• Makes it a violation for an entity to keep distributing a digital replica after being notified the person did not consent to its use.

The bill affects any Georgia resident whose face, voice, or identity could be replicated by AI, as well as companies, advertisers, media producers, and AI developers who create or distribute synthetic media, deepfakes, or digital replicas for commercial use. Estates and legal representatives of deceased individuals are also affected.

Georgians currently have limited statutory protection against companies or individuals using AI to create realistic fake images, voices, or videos of them without permission. This bill would give people a clear legal tool, including lawsuits for money damages and injunctions, to stop unauthorized commercial use of AI-generated likenesses of themselves or deceased relatives.

• Section 1 lists legislative findings that Georgia lacks a statutory framework addressing AI-generated deepfakes and that unauthorized likeness use can cause economic harm and loss of dignity.
• Section 2 adds new Article 38 to O.C.G.A. Title 10, Chapter 1, naming it the LEGACY Act and defining key terms like 'consent,' 'digital replica,' 'generative artificial intelligence,' and 'likeness' (O.C.G.A. §§ 10-1-970, 10-1-971).
• O.C.G.A. § 10-1-972 establishes a transferable, licensable, and inheritable property right in an individual's likeness that survives 50 years after death, with post-mortem use requiring consent from the individual, estate, or legal representative.
• O.C.G.A. § 10-1-973 requires consent for commercial creation or distribution of a digital replica, bars claims of ownership over a likeness based solely on its use in a replica, and bars digital replicas that falsely imply personal endorsement.
• O.C.G.A. § 10-1-973(g)-(h) creates a private right of action allowing an aggrieved individual to seek actual damages, punitive damages, equitable relief, injunctions, and attorney's fees and costs.
• Section 3 sets the effective date as July 1, 2026, and Section 4 repeals conflicting 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
• digital privacy
• likeness rights