Denmark wants to give citizens the right to their body, voice and facial features to protect against deepfakes

The Danish government wants to combat deepfakes created using artificial intelligence by giving citizens the right to their bodies, voices and facial features. The Ministry of Culture plans to propose changes to the legislation by the end of the summer, with the necessary amendments in the autumn, The Guardian reports.

Under the changes, a deepfake would be defined as a digital imitation of a person, including their appearance and voice. The changes would also cover "realistic, digitally generated imitations" of artists' performances without their consent.

Violation of these rules may result in compensation for the victims. However, parodies or satire will not fall under the rules.

"In the bill we agree and are sending an unequivocal message that everybody has the right to their own body, their own voice and their own facial features, which is apparently not how the current law is protecting people against generative AI," says Danish Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt.

If these changes come into force, and they currently have broad support across all parties, Danish citizens will be able to demand that major social media and platforms remove deepfakes with their own involvement. If they refuse, the companies will face fines and the case could be referred to the European Commission.

"Human beings can be run through the digital copy machine and be misused for all sorts of purposes and I’m not willing to accept that," Schmidt added.