New Delhi: A four-second recording could become Georgia Meloni’s defence against AI. Italy’s Prime Minister, Georgia Meloni, wants to legally protect her voice, a big part of her public image, as artificial intelligence makes it easier than ever to fake audio.
Meloni filed a sound trademark application with the European Union Intellectual Property Office this Monday (5 October). It is a four-second clip where she says “Io sono Giorgia Meloni” (“I am Giorgia Meloni”) twice. Right now, the application is still under review, so EU trademark protection isn’t official yet, as reported by the Financial Times.
The recorded phrase echoes Meloni’s famous declaration at a 2019 political rally: “I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian.” The slogan became widely known in Italy and inspired a viral dance remix. “Io sono Giorgia” was also the title of her 2021 autobiography.
According to Reuters, Italian media has reported that even if approved, it would not by itself prevent the use of her voice in AI-generated deepfakes, though it could create additional legal obstacles for those seeking to replicate it.
If the trademark goes through, she’ll be the first major politician to get this kind of protection for her voice. Singers and other celebrities have done it before, but politicians haven’t till now.
Celebrities like Matthew McConaughey and Taylor Swift have filed legal trademark and registration protections for their voices with intellectual property authorities to guard against unauthorised AI voice cloning and deepfakes.
This isn’t Meloni’s first time in legal battles over deepfakes. In 2024, she filed a civil lawsuit against a man accused of creating and distributing pornographic deepfake images using her face. The case remains pending before an Italian court.
What Meloni is trying to protect
The trademark doesn’t cover every possible use of her voice. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) recognises sound as a category of EU trademark. The rules say the sound itself must be clearly represented, usually in an audio file, and any protection sticks only to specific goods and services named in the application.
So, registering the sound won’t stop AI clones altogether. But it does give Meloni a stronger intellectual property argument to challenge unauthorised uses, if they fall under her registration.
Why now?
Italy expects its next general election in 2027, and everyone’s struggling to tell real political content from AI-generated fakes.
This move comes as generative AI now allows people to clone voices and create entirely new speech.
For politicians, that means someone can create a speech or endorsement from scratch, spread it online, and the damage is done before anyone realises it is fake. Today, the technology doesn’t only recreate politician’s faces, it can fake their voices and put words in their mouths. Meloni’s application marks a new attempt to use existing laws to bear against AI-generated impersonation.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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