A new AI licensing framework backed by prominent Hollywood talent launched in 2026, giving individuals and rights holders a way to set permissions for how AI systems can use their likeness, creative work, characters, and designs.
Called the Human Consent Standard, the framework allows people to grant AI systems full permission to use their content, allow access under specific conditions, or restrict access entirely. It was announced on May 12, 2026, with support from actors and filmmakers including George Clooney, Viola Davis, Tom Hanks, Kristen Stewart, Steven Soderbergh, and Meryl Streep, as well as organizations such as the Creative Artists Agency and the Music Artists Coalition.
The standard is overseen by RSL Media, a nonprofit cofounded by Cate Blanchett. It builds on the existing Really Simple Licensing (RSL) Standard, which launched last year to help websites signal how AI systems may use their content. Like the RSL Standard, the Human Consent Standard can be discovered by AI systems through a website’s robots.txt page. However, RSL Media cofounder Eckart Walther notes a key distinction: while the RSL Standard applies to content at a specific URL, the Human Consent Standard “applies to the underlying work, identity, character, or mark itself, wherever it appears.”
RSL Media plans to launch a registry in June 2026 where people can verify their identity and publish permissions for their likeness and creative works. The organization will then translate those terms into signals readable by AI systems.
The standard arrives as some public figures have already pursued individual protections — Matthew McConaughey trademarked clips of himself, and Taylor Swift applied for a trademark covering a photo and two soundbites. The Human Consent Standard aims to extend similar protections more broadly. “It’s also the industry’s first practical solution where people everywhere, not just public figures, can assert control over how their work is used by AI,” Blanchett said in a press release.
Source: The Verge