On Tuesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed some of the toughest laws in the United States to date to regulate the artificial intelligence industry. Three of the laws ban deepfakes that could influence elections, while two others ban Hollywood studios from creating a replica of an actor’s body or voice without their consent.
“California is home to the majority of the world’s leading AI companies, and they are harnessing these transformative technologies to help address pressing challenges while also addressing the risks they pose,” Governor Newsom’s office said in a statement. press release Tuesday.
A new law in California, AB 2655, requires large online platforms, such as Facebook and X, to remove or label deepfake videos created using artificial intelligence and related to elections, as well as create channels for reporting such content. Candidates and elected officials can seek a court order if a large online platform fails to comply with the law.
Another law, 2355, requires disclosure of political ads generated by AI. That means that in the future, Trump might not be able to get away with posting fake AI-generated videos of Taylor Swift endorsing him on Truth Social (she has endorsed Kamala Harris). The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a similar disclosure requirement nationwide, and has already made robocalls using AI-generated voices illegal.
The latest two AI bills signed Tuesday — which were pushed by the nation’s largest film and broadcast actors union, SAG-AFTRA — create new standards for California’s media industry. AB 2602 requires studios to get permission from an actor before creating an AI-generated duplicate of their voice or likeness. Meanwhile, AB 1836 prohibits studios from creating digital copies of deceased actors without the consent of their heirs. (Legally authorized duplicates have been used in Alien , Star Wars , and other recent films, for example.)
Governor Newsom is currently considering 38 AI-related bills, including the highly controversial Senate Bill 1047, which the California Senate sent to his desk for final approval. During a conversation with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff on Tuesday at the Dreamforce 2024 conference, Newsom may have tipped his hat. He echoed the concerns of opponents of Senate Bill 1047 that the bill could have a chilling effect on open-source AI.
“There’s one bill that’s kind of overblown in terms of public discourse and awareness; it’s Senate Bill 1047,” Newsom said on stage Tuesday. “What are the demonstrable risks in AI and what are the hypothetical risks? I can’t solve everything. What can we solve? So that’s the approach we’re taking across the board on this.”
Shortly after, Newsom also said he wanted to address the more extreme concerns about AI. So take these comments seriously. The governor has two weeks to sign or veto Senate Bill 1047.