Matthew McConaughey trademarks iconic slogan amid AI deepfake war

Matthew McConaughey has filed to trademark his iconic catchphrase “Okay, okay, okay” to fight artificial intelligence deep fakes.

The 56-year-old actor was recently granted eight trademarks to protect his likeness from unauthorized artificial intelligence misuse, including his voice, smile and famous phrases he uses. improvise first In Richard Linklater’s 1993 comedy Dazed and confused.

“The mark consists of a person saying ‘Okay, okay, okay,’ where the first syllable of the first two words has a lower pitch than the second syllable, and the first syllable of the last word has a higher pitch than the second syllable,” the trademark registration states. type.

Attorneys at Yorn Levine, the entertainment law firm representing McConaughey, applied for protection in December 2023, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office approved the trademark in December 2025.

The eight trademarks approved in the past few months include several audio clips, including a clip of the Oscar winner saying, “Just keep living, right? I mean, what are we going to do?” Other trademarks include a three-second video of him sitting in front of a Christmas tree and a seven-second video of him standing on his porch.

Simultaneous status consumer protection act McConaughey already protects celebrities from having their likeness copied to sell products, and McConaughey’s trademark strategy means Interstellar The actor now has grounds to sue in federal court over widespread “abuse” on the internet, even though misleading artificial intelligence videos using his image aren’t explicitly selling anything.

Yorn Levine founder and attorney Kevin Yorn said in a statement The Independent: “We embrace artificial intelligence, invest in it, and actively support its development. However, progress should have limits. Protecting one’s voice, image and intellectual property is critical to building a future that works for everyone. Together with Matthew, we are forward-thinking, committed to the possibilities of artificial intelligence, and thoughtful about how to represent and protect everyone’s creative identity. “

McConaughey told wall street journal: “My team and I want to know that when my voice or likeness is used, it’s because I approved and signed off on it. We want to create a clear boundary around ownership with consent and attribution as is the norm in an AI world.”

The actor previously signed up to have his voice copied by artificial intelligence for his newsletter, Lyrics to “Life”. In November, he Partnering with AI audio company ElevenLabs Create a synthesized version of his voice to read a Spanish audio version of his weekly newsletter.

Celebrities like McConaughey aren’t the only ones seeking to limit the misuse of artificial intelligence. Like Elon Musk’s internal tool for artificial intelligence Grok is used to create sexually explicit images Without the consent of the people, politicians including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez working to pass legislation Deepfakes are prohibited.