NewJeans contracts reportedly let ADOR license AI voice clones and chatbots after 2029; label disputes the reading

What happened

On 5 November 2026, The New York Times reported that it had obtained and analysed the exclusive contracts K-pop group NewJeans signed with their label ADOR, a HYBE subsidiary, in 2022, when the five members were aged 14 to 17. According to the report, the contracts let ADOR keep using and licensing the members' names, likenesses and voices after the agreements expire in 2029, including for AI-generated voice clones and chatbots. That departs from South Korea's standard entertainment contract, under which a label's rights to an artist's name, image and voice end when the contract ends. The members would reportedly still be paid for such uses, but would have no control over where their faces and voices appear. Legal experts cited in the coverage said it is uncertain how far the provisions would be upheld in an actual dispute.

The label's response

ADOR disputed the interpretation on 6 November, saying AI-generated content requires each artist's individual consent and that it would not use former artists' intellectual property without authorisation. It said the contracts contain personality-rights protections and were negotiated with the members' legal representatives. The dispute sits inside a wider contract fight: the members announced in November 2024 that they were ending the contracts, ADOR sued, and a Seoul court upheld the contracts as valid through 2029.

What this is not

No court has ruled on the AI voice-clone provisions. The reported terms are the Times' reading of contracts it obtained; ADOR contests that reading. This item reports the reported terms and the label's rebuttal, not a finding that ADOR has used or will use any member's voice in AI-generated content.