Interesting Illinois litigation where musicians are suing AI companies under a Biometric Privacy Law!

The ABAJournal.com reported that “Musicians who argue that artificial intelligence companies have used their songs without permission are bringing litigation under a unique law in Illinois.” The March 23, 2026 article entitled “Musicians in this state are suing AI companies under biometric privacy law” (https://tinyurl.com/zwp9m5ja) included these comments:

 Among their claims in several proposed class action lawsuits, these musicians allege that Suno Inc., Uncharted Labs Inc. and Google illicitly collected and exploited their voiceprints, which violates the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, Bloomberg Law reports.

Creators have taken different approaches to challenge the unauthorized use of their works and likenesses by AI companies, but claims under the BIPA are novel and could allow plaintiffs to avoid the fair use defense, Matthew Kugler, a professor at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, told Bloomberg Law.

“The biometric case turns on exactly what did you collect, it turns on nothing to do with fair use,” Kugler reportedly said.

If AI companies argue that the data that they collected doesn’t constitute biometric information, the musicians will have to prove that voiceprints can identify them in a similar manner as face scans or fingerprints, Kugler also told Bloomberg Law.

TikTok Inc. and other tech companies have agreed to multimillion-dollar settlements under Illinois’ privacy law because of their use of facial recognition technology in recent years, according to Bloomberg Law.

Plaintiffs in other cases have successfully argued that voiceprints are personally identifiable information, Bloomberg Law also reports. One of those involved Whole Foods Market Group Inc., which paid nearly $300,000 to settle a suit claiming that the company used warehouse employees’ voiceprints to verify their identities without consent.

Interesting AI litigation! First published at https://www.vogelitlaw.com/blog/interesting-illinois-litigation-where-musicians-are-suing-ai-companies-under-a-biometric-privacy-law