New Business Applications Enabled by AI

Technology is no longer merely optimising existing processes. It is creating new products, opening up new markets and transforming the way companies embody their image, communicate and engage with customers.

• AI avatars are a very tangible example

An AI avatar is a digital representation of a person, whether real or fictional, used to communicate, sell products or services, or embody a brand.

An AI avatar may be created using deepfake technology, namely image, audio or video content generated or manipulated by AI in a way that may appear authentic. Whenever an avatar faithfully reproduces the personal attributes of a real individual, the issue of deepfakes arises.

These applications are no longer merely prospective. They have become genuine drivers of value creation: virtual influencers, executive avatars, customer assistants, AI sales agents, synthetic voices, automated advertising campaigns and the large-scale production of marketing content.

However, they also give rise to very tangible legal risks.

• This is not merely a technological issue

It is also a contractual, evidential, reputational, regulatory and litigation-related issue.

The legal assessment of these applications requires an analysis of the rights attached to training data and outputs, the lawfulness of reproducing a person’s image or voice, the compliance of supplier agreements, the warranties provided for in terms of use, consumer protection rules, the GDPR, and the transparency obligations laid down by the AI Act.

In particular, the AI Act requires users to be informed when they are interacting with an AI system, unless this is obvious from the circumstances.

The AI Act also imposes disclosure and labelling requirements in respect of content generated or manipulated by AI, particularly deepfake content.

Under French law, Articles 226-8 and 226-8-1 of the French Criminal Code already regulate certain forms of non-consensual dissemination of edited or algorithmically generated content reproducing a person’s image or words.

In other words, innovation is no longer developing in a legal vacuum.

Expert Insight

At FIRSH, we assist our clients with these new AI-enabled business applications, including the creation of AI avatars, the contractual framework governing personality attributes, supplier audits, the legal protection of marketing campaigns, internal governance of AI use and the anticipation of litigation risks.

These matters require an in-depth understanding of the underlying technologies, a command of both emerging and established legal principles, and the ability to consider the product, the contract, compliance and litigation as part of a single, integrated approach.

Our work also draws on the research conducted over several years within our integrated research laboratory, FIRSH Lab, particularly in relation to deepfakes, with the support of an international panel of experts.