FKA Twigs Says She Made an AI Deepfake of Herself to Handle Her Social Media Interactions

While many musicians are wary of artificial intelligence's rise, FKA Twigs says she’s already using it to help her engage with her fans.

Twigs, 36, submitted written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property on Tuesday, April 30, regarding the NO FAKES Act. In her letter, Twigs defended the well-regulated use of AI, adding that within the past year, she’s developed a “deepfake version of myself that is not only trained in my personality but also can use my exact tone of voice to speak many languages.”

“I will be engaging my AI twigs later this year to extend my reach and handle my online social media interactions, whilst I continue to focus on my art from the comfort and solace of my studio,” she continued. “These and similar emerging technologies are highly valuable tools both artistically and commercially when under the control of the artist.”

Twigs advocated for proper regulation of AI to protect those in the creative and entertainment industries.

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“Our careers and livelihoods are in jeopardy, and so potentially are the wider image-related rights of others in society. You have the power to change this and safeguard the future,” she wrote. “That the very essence of our being at its most human level can be violated by the unscrupulous use of AI to create a digital facsimile that purports to be us, and our work, is inherently wrong. It is therefore vital that as an industry and as legislators, we work together to ensure we do all we can to protect our creative and intellectual rights as well as the very basis of who we are.”

Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl also submitted testimony imploring lawmakers to amend the bill to include three statues: an enforceable intellectual property right for likeness and voice, language that respects a citizen’s important First Amendment principles when it comes to digital replication and deterrence measures that would discourage unethical AI use.

Musicians have already been targets of unethical AI use. Social media platform X disabled the ability to search for Taylor Swift after explicit AI-generated images of her were shared. The anonymous songwriter Ghostwriter drew the ire of some fans when they released “Heart on My Sleeve,” a song featuring AI vocals of Drake and The Weeknd.

Drake, 37, also recently raised eyebrows for his use of AI. He used fake Tupac Shakur vocals on his Kendrick Lamar diss track, “Taylor Made Freestyle.” He took it down after the Shakur estate threatened a lawsuit.

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The Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act of 2023 “is a bipartisan proposal that would protect the voice and visual likeness of all individuals from unauthorized recreations from generative artificial intelligence.” Senators Chris Coons, Marsha Blackburn, Amy Klobuchar and Thom Tillis sponsored the bill.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the long-running nonprofit digital rights group, argues that the NO FAKES Act “doesn’t offer much protection for those who need it most.”