Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, LLP partner Andrea Perez shared her legal expertise with PEOPLE magazine in “Drake Removes ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’ Diss Track from IG After Tupac’s Estate Threatened Lawsuit over AI Verse.” 

Although California law regarding use of artificial intelligence for use in entertainment is still evolving, the estate of Tupac Shakur threatened legal action against Drake for the use of an AI-generated verse of the late rapper’s voice.   

“There’s this exception that I think would be the biggest hurdle for [Tupac’s] estate to overcome — his voice being used for plays, books, magazines, newspapers, musical compositions, which is what we have here,” Ms. Perez told PEOPLE. “That’s supposed to be exempt from protection, meaning Drake is OK, he falls into this exception.” 

The song, which also featured an AI-generated verse “by” Snoop Dogg, was only available on Instagram and was never made available to stream or purchase. Had it been offered for purchase, Ms. Perez explained Snoop could have pursued a legal case over voice misappropriation. 

“Did Snoop Dogg want to be involved in this battle either? Does that hurt his reputation? I don’t know,” Ms. Perez said. “That’s kind of a question here — does he have something? Possibly, but also, maybe Snoop Dogg just doesn’t even care to go forward on it.”