CA Gov Signs Laws Aimed at AI to Protect Actors & Elections

Governor Gavin Newsom pushed back against Artificial Intelligence by signing a series of new laws that will protect the digital likenesses of actors, even posthumously, while also making it illegal to create deepfakes related to elections 120 days before Election Day and 60 days thereafter.

The use of AI has been a hot button issue for both the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA and was at the center of last year's industry strikes. The President of SAG-AFTRA Fran Drescher was at Newsom's side when he signed the new bill that ensures performers' legal rights when negotiating digital replicas and protecting actors who have died from hav setting rules for recreating performers who've passed.

“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," Drescher said.

The legislation was written by Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) and will requires "contracts to specify the use of AI-generated digital replicas of a performer’s voice or likeness, and the performer must be professionally represented in negotiating the contract," Newsom said.

"We continue to wade through uncharted territory when it comes to how AI and digital media is transforming the entertainment industry, but our North Star has always been to protect workers," Newsom said. "This legislation ensures the industry can continue thriving while strengthening protections for workers and how their likeness can or cannot be used.”

Other bills tackling AI and election fraud was signed by Newsom. The legislation was viewed as direct rebuke to Elon Musk, who retweeted a bogus Kamala Harris campaign ad that used a manipulated version of her voice. Late last year in New Hampshire, fake robocalls impersonating President Joe Biden urged voters in New Hampshire to abstain from voting in January’s primary election.

The Department of Justice has warned that generative AI has the "potential for greater harm," pointing out in a recent study that "malicious actors, including foreign nation state actors and cybercriminals, could leverage these same capabilities for nefarious purposes."

Newsom said that he signed the legislation so "AI is not deployed to undermine the public’s trust through disinformation, especially in today’s fraught political climate,” Newsom said. “These measures will help to combat the harmful use of deepfakes in political ads and other content, one of several areas in which the state is being proactive to foster transparent and trustworthy AI.”