AI Clauses in UGC Contracts: What to Keep, Limit or Strike

You can sign a UGC deal and keep control of your face and voice. The test is whether the contract says exactly how they'll be used. California and New York both have laws that can void a vague digital-replica clause in a work contract, under certain conditions (California's digital replica law; New York's digital replica law). Use the same test on every clause below.

Why AI rights show up in creator contracts

There's no single national rule. The U.S. Copyright Office found "a patchwork of protections" for digital replicas and said "new federal legislation is urgently needed" (U.S. Copyright Office report, 2024). Until that changes, what you sign is what you've agreed to.

Step 1: Search the contract for these words

Start with six terms (the free contract scanner also flags terms like perpetual usage rights): "voice" or "likeness", "digital replica", "train", "modify", "perpetual" and "hereafter devised". The full list: likeness, voice, image, name; digital replica, synthetic, simulation, avatar; artificial intelligence, machine learning, train, model, dataset; modify, alter, adapt, derivative; perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide; "now known or hereafter devised"; sublicense, assign, affiliates; paid media, whitelisting, partnership ads. Mark every hit (the free contract scanner can flag terms like perpetual usage rights), then read the grant of rights (or "license" or "usage") section line by line.

Step 2: Media, territory and term

Ask what media, where, and how long. If the answers are "all media," "worldwide" and "in perpetuity," redline them. Learn more about usage rights.

Example redline:

in any and all media now known or hereafter devised, worldwide, in perpetuity on Brand's owned organic social channels and website, in the United States, for 12 months from first posting. Any other use requires Creator's prior written agreement.

The 12 months and the US are Example inputs.

Step 3: Whitelisting and paid usage

In creator deals, whitelisting means the brand runs paid ads through your handle or boosts your post. On Meta, ads that promote branded content must tag the business partner "using the branded content tool" (Meta Advertising Standards). Keep paid usage as a separate term with a start and end date, and approve any ad copy in your voice.

Example redline:

Paid media use of the Content, including running ads from Creator's account, requires a separate written agreement stating the platforms, start date and end date. Brand will not publish ad copy attributed to Creator without Creator's written approval.

Step 4: Edits and modifications

Format edits are fine. Changing what you appear to say or do is not.

Example redline:

Brand may edit the Content for length, format, captions and subtitles. Brand will not alter Creator's words, voice, face or body, or combine them with new statements, without Creator's prior written approval.

Step 5: Likeness, voice and digital replicas

California defines a digital replica as "a computer-generated, highly realistic electronic representation that is readily identifiable as the voice or visual likeness of an individual ..." (California's law).

Under California's and New York's laws, a replica clause in a contract for your services can be unenforceable when, in short (California's law; New York's law):

• it allows a replica in place of work you'd otherwise do in person,
• it has no reasonably specific description of the intended uses,
• you had no lawyer who negotiated those rights (with terms clearly in a signed writing), and no union contract covering them.

There's an exception. A vague description can still hold up if the uses fit the rest of the contract and the character of what you actually filmed or recorded. Other parts of the contract still stand. California's covers new performances fixed on or after January 1, 2025. New York's covers contracts made or changed on or after that date.

Tennessee's ELVIS Act ("Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security Act"), in effect since July 1, 2024, protects voice and likeness against unauthorized use (Tennessee General Assembly). A clause you signed counts as permission, so fix the contract first.

A union benchmark: the advertisers' committee summarized the 2025 SAG-AFTRA commercials deal in April 2025 (advertisers' committee summary). Consent to replica performances in commercials the performer wasn't hired for must match "the reasonably specific description." It's limited to "the same advertiser and product line." It comes through a rider or "a separate writing that is signed by a performer." It covers union work only, but it's a fair standard to ask for.

Example redline:

Brand will not create or use a digital replica, voice clone or AI-generated version of Creator's voice or likeness, except for uses described specifically in a separate written consent signed by Creator for each project. That consent will name the product, the media, and the start and end dates.

Step 6: AI training and synthetic content

Look for "train," "machine learning," "dataset," "model," or "develop or improve products or services." Strike it, limit it ("Brand will not use the Content, or Creator's voice or likeness, to train or fine-tune any AI model."), or make it opt-in with a separate signed agreement.

If a brand mixes your content with AI-made people, ask how it will be labeled. New York's synthetic performer law, signed in December 2025, requires whoever makes an ad to "conspicuously disclose" a synthetic performer in it when they know one is used (New York's synthetic performer law).

Step 7: Perpetual, irrevocable and sublicensable rights

Replace "perpetual, irrevocable, sublicensable and assignable" with "non-exclusive, for the Term, and not transferable except to Brand's ad agency for the uses above." (Example wording.)

When to walk away

Pass if a brand won't put replica or AI-training uses in writing with specific uses and an end date. Example: "I can't agree to open-ended AI or likeness rights. If we can list the specific uses and dates, I'm happy to sign." For a big or long deal, have a lawyer read it too. For other clauses worth a second look, see our list of brand deal contract red flags.

Checklist

1. Search for the AI and rights words.
2. Name the media, territory and term.
3. Separate window and approval for paid usage and whitelisting.
4. Format edits only; no changes to your words, voice or face.
5. Digital replicas only with separate signed consent naming uses and dates.
6. AI training: strike, limit or opt-in.
7. Fixed term and named parties instead of perpetual, irrevocable, sublicensable.
8. Walk away if AI and likeness uses won't go in writing.

Want help finding brands and sending pitches? Find brands to pitch.

Sources

• California Labor Code section 927 (AB 2602): https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=LAB&sectionNum=927
• New York S7676-B (General Obligations Law 5-302), signed chapter 581, Dec 13, 2024: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2023/S7676
• New York S8420-A (synthetic performers in ads), signed chapter 617, Dec 11, 2025: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S8420/amendment/A
• Tennessee SB2096 / Public Chapter 588 (ELVIS Act): https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=SB2096&GA=113
• U.S. Copyright Office, Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 1: Digital Replicas (July 2024): https://www.copyright.gov/ai/Copyright-and-Artificial-Intelligence-Part-1-Digital-Replicas-Report.pdf
• Joint Policy Committee, 2025 SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contracts client alert (Apr 28, 2025): https://www.jointpolicycommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Client-Alert-2025-JPC-SAG-AFTR-Commercials-Contracts.pdf
• Meta, Advertising Standards (branded content): https://transparency.meta.com/policies/ad-standards/