GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM SIGNS BILLS TO REGULATE AI USES IN ELECTIONS, ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY
California put unscrupulous artificial intelligence users on notice Tuesday when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed several bills aimed at regulating the technology’s use in elections and the entertainment industry.
State leaders spent the recent legislative session attempting to walk the fine line of putting guardrails around the burgeoning and largely unregulated industry without stifling the technology’s growth in the state.
Some of the bills marked an effort to preserve the integrity of elections while addressing altered campaign materials that have cropped up on social media. Others created protections for artists whose digital likeness has been cloned without their consent.
When Newsom signed the bills on Tuesday, he touted the laws as important measures to minimize the impact of AI-generated misinformation and replicas. Whether he will sign off on more sweeping regulations of the industry remains unclear.
Last month, the Legislature passed a bill by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco that would require large companies developing AI to add guardrails and testing to their models.
On Tuesday, Newsom told Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff during a conversation at the technology company’s conference that he was concerned that Wiener’s bill would have a “chilling effect” on AI innovation.
“The impact of signing the wrong bills over a few years could have a profound impact on our competitive strength,” Newsom said.
AB 2655 by Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, requires social platforms to block deceptive election-related content up to six months before an election in California and two months after.
Outside that time frame, the law requires platforms to label deepfake content as “manipulated” and “not authentic.”
Another bill authored by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, D-Santa Cruz, and signed by Newsom makes those rules take effect immediately.
“With fewer than 50 days until the general election, there is an urgent need to protect against misleading, digitally-altered content that can interfere with the election,” Pellerin, a former longtime registrar of voters in Santa Cruz County, said in a statement.
The governor also signed legislation requiring campaigns to disclose if a political ad is generated or altered using AI.
He signaled support for the legislation earlier this summer after X owner Elon Musk reposted a video that included what appeared to be a fake voiceover of Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I could care less if it was Harris or Trump,” Newsom told Benioff on Tuesday, referencing Musk’s AI-generated video. “It was just wrong on every level.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Newsom signed two bills alongside union leaders of the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists to preserve the digital likeness of performers. He heralded the new laws as important protections for workers in digital media.
“It is a momentous day for SAG-AFTRA members and everyone else because the AI protections we fought so hard for last year are now expanded upon by California law,” said SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher on Tuesday.
AB 2602 by Assemblymember Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, requires anyone creating AI-generated digital material in the likeness of a performer to secure a contract with the artist to ensure AI can’t be used to create a clone of someone without their permission.
The other piece of legislation similarly prevents the creation of AI-generated art of performers who are deceased without permission from that artist’s estate.
2024-09-18T15:41:14Z dg43tfdfdgfd