California Governor Signs AI Laws To Regulate Election Deepfakes, Digital Replicas

Sacramento, Sep 19: California Governor Gavin Newsom signed five artificial intelligence (AI) bills into law this week, addressing concerns about deepfakes in elections and protecting performers' digital likenesses.

However, he has yet to sign the pivotal Senate Bill 1047, which would impose broader regulations on the AI industry, Xinhua news agency reported.

"That's challenging now in this space, particularly with SB 1047, because of the sort of outsized impact that legislation could have, and the chilling effect, particularly in the open source community," Newsom said Tuesday at Dreamforce, a San Francisco conference hosted by business software giant Salesforce.

The bill faces strong opposition from the AI industry but is welcomed by the public.

Two of the signed bills focus on protecting actors' digital likenesses. Assembly Bill 2602 requires contracts to specify the use of AI-generated digital replicas of a performer's voice or likeness, while Assembly Bill 1836 prohibits commercial use of digital replicas of deceased performers without their estate's consent.

The other three bills aim to combat election misinformation. Assembly Bill 2655 requires large online platforms to remove or label deceptive and digitally altered or created content related to elections during specified periods. Assembly Bill 2839 expands the timeframe in which a committee or other entity is prohibited from knowingly distributing an advertisement or other election material containing deceptive AI-generated or manipulated content, while Assembly Bill 2355 mandates disclosure of AI use in campaign materials.

California is home to many of the world's leading AI companies and has been proactive in leveraging AI to tackle various challenges, from reducing traffic congestion to addressing homelessness.