OpenAI Responds to Complaints About Martin Luther King Jr. Deepfakes

OpenAI said it has "paused" deepfakes of Martin Luther King Jr. on its social app Sora after users created "disrespectful" AI‑generated videos of the late civil‑rights leader. The decision came after complaints from King’s estate and his daughter, Bernice King, who asked people on social media to stop sending her AI videos of her father.

OpenAI explained that, at the request of King, Inc., it is strengthening guardrails for historical figures. While the company acknowledges strong free‑speech interests in depicting public figures, it believes that families and authorized representatives should ultimately control how a likeness is used. Representatives or estate owners can now request that their likeness not be used in Sora cameos.

Policy Evolution and Legal Context

The new stance mirrors OpenAI’s earlier shift on copyright when Sora first launched. After an influx of depictions of characters such as Pikachu, Rick and Morty, and SpongeBob SquarePants, the platform moved to an "opt‑in" policy for rightsholders. Unlike copyright, there is no federal framework for protecting a person’s likeness, but a variety of state laws allow people to sue over unauthorized use of a living person’s image, and in some states, a deceased person’s as well. California, where OpenAI is based, has specifically said postmortem privacy rights apply for AI replicas of performers.

For living individuals, OpenAI has allowed people to opt in to appearing in videos from the start by having them make AI clones of themselves.

Implications for AI‑Generated Content

The pause on Martin Luther King Jr. deepfakes illustrates the growing tension between AI creativity and personal or estate rights. By providing a mechanism for families to opt out, OpenAI is attempting to balance innovation with respect for legacy and legal considerations. The move may set a precedent for how other AI platforms handle requests from estates of historical figures, potentially shaping industry standards around consent and ethical use of AI‑generated likenesses.

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