A step-by-step guide to licensing your face or voice for AI: what's being licensed, your red lines, routes, contract terms, and the laws that protect you.

Royall publishes this guide. Descriptions of other companies come from their own public pages, accessed October 4, 2026.

Quick answer

You can license your face or voice to AI companies directly, through an agent or lawyer, through a marketplace, or through a consent platform. Before you agree, pin down exactly what is being licensed (generated output, a voice clone, or training data), and get the use, term, territory, pay, exclusivity, approval rights and deletion terms in writing. Treat AI training as a separate permission. Revoking a license usually stops future uses but can't recall data already delivered, so read that clause closely.

Step 1: What exactly is the company asking to license?

Request	What it means	Risk level
Use of existing footage or recordings	Your real material in their product	Lower, if scoped
Generated output	New media of you made by AI	Higher: you may not see every output
A voice clone or avatar	A reusable model of you	Higher: can be reused at scale
Training or fine-tuning data	Your data teaches a model	Highest: hard to undo once trained
Derivatives	New works based on your identity	Depends on approvals

Don't treat these as interchangeable. A fee for one is not a fee for all.

Step 2: What are my red lines?

Write your yes and no list before negotiating. You might accept audiobook narration but refuse political ads, allow one campaign but not model training, or allow one brand but no sublicensing. Keep it in your consent rules sheet.

Step 3: Which route should I use?

Direct deal. Most control; you handle negotiation and enforcement.
Agent, manager or lawyer. Useful when terms are complex. In California and New York, having a lawyer negotiate replica terms also matters legally (see below).
Marketplace. Useful for discovery. Examples: the ElevenLabs Iconic Marketplace for iconic voices and IP, where companies request approval from rights holders, and ActorHub, where verified talent sets uses, limits and price for AI advertising.
Consent platform. Useful when many apps need to check your permission repeatedly.

You don't have to upload your likeness to a technology company to license it. A signed contract remains a complete route. How to compare platforms: choosing a licensing platform.

Step 4: Which contract terms matter most?

Term	Question to answer in writing
Scope	What exactly can they make, and for which products?
Training	Can your data train or fine-tune any model? Whose?
Term	How long? What happens at renewal?
Territory	Where?
Pay	Flat fee, minimum guarantee, royalty or revenue share? Per use?
Exclusivity	What can't you do elsewhere, and are you paid for that?
Approval	Do you approve outputs before release?
Refused uses	Political, adult, defamatory or other uses that are never allowed
Deletion	What happens to recordings, models and datasets at the end?
Revocation	What can you stop in future, and what can't be undone?
Credit and disclosure	Will AI use be disclosed to audiences?

Step 5: Which laws protect me when I license my likeness?

Status as of October 4, 2026:

California Labor Code §927 (AB 2602) and New York General Obligations Law §5-302, both effective January 1, 2025: a digital replica clause in a services contract can be unenforceable if it replaces in-person work, lacks a reasonably specific description of uses, and you had no lawyer or union representation as defined. Tracker: AB 2602 · Tracker: New York
California SB 1111, signed September 30, 2026 (Chapter 862) and effective January 1, 2027, states that California's right of publicity statute (Civil Code §3344) covers digital replicas, so commercial use of your replica without consent can be challenged under it. Bill history · Tracker
SAG-AFTRA contracts. For covered work, producers need informed consent tied to a reasonably specific description of use, with pay rules for replicas. The 2026 TV/Theatrical Agreement runs July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2030. Tracker
NO FAKES Act (proposed, not law). The Senate version would cap licenses for living adults at 10 years and require them to be in writing and reasonably specific; licenses for minors would be capped at 5 years, end at age 18, and need court approval. It awaits a Senate floor vote. Tracker

Step 6: How do I keep track after signing?

Keep your own signed copy even if an agent or platform manages the deal. Add it to your license register and set a reminder for the end date.

Where Royall fits

Royall lets you record your face and voice, sign one consent and choose which uses you allow. Apps that integrate Royall Herald check those choices before each use, and when you change your choices, the next check follows the new ones. Licensing opportunities are offered from time to time under separate terms (Terms §1.5); Royall's published fee is 5% of a license once completed and accepted, with no fee to list. Per Royall's developer docs, AI training licenses are approved deal by deal, never as a blanket setting. Changing your choices stops new uses; it does not undo licenses or data sets already delivered. Before you license anything through Royall, read how it handles your data:

How Royall handles your data What Royall's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy say today (both effective September 15, 2026):

Royall's own models. Royall may use your likeness to train Royall-operated AI models to improve its services, for example its likeness detection (Terms §1.4).

Licensing to partners. Royall may offer you opportunities to license your recordings to Royall partners, including for AI training, under separate terms and with your consent (Terms §1.2 and §1.5; Privacy Policy). Those licenses must bar the partner from using your likeness to train models for deepfake generation, sexual content, harassment, infringement or any illegal purpose (Terms §1.5).

Revoking consent stops future licenses. It cannot pull your likeness out of data sets already shared with third parties under earlier licenses (Terms §1.3; Privacy Policy).

Retention. Biometric data is kept as long as needed to provide the services you request, or up to three years after your last interaction, unless you revoke consent (Privacy Policy).

Access and deletion. Ask at privacy@royall.ai (Privacy Policy).

Apps that check permission through Herald or Connect get a yes or no answer. Royall says partners using Connect do not receive your recordings (royall.ai).

Key takeaways

Know whether you're licensing footage, output, a clone or training data.
Write your red lines first.
Get scope, training, term, pay, exclusivity, approval and deletion in writing.
In California and New York, a lawyer or union can make vague replica clauses harder to enforce against you.
Revocation stops future uses; delivered data usually can't be recalled.

FAQ

How much is my AI likeness worth? There's no standard rate. Value depends on who you are, the use, reach, exclusivity, duration and whether training is included.

Should I grant perpetual rights? Understand exactly what that means first. A fixed term keeps more control with you.

Can I license through more than one provider? Often yes, unless you've granted exclusivity.

Can I take back a license later? Only as the contract allows. Most let you stop future uses at the end of a term; data already used for training is usually impossible to recall.

Sources

Related guides

This is general information, not legal advice.

How to License Your Face or Voice to AI Companies