ARTICLE
27 September 2024

California Governor Signs Bills To Reign In Deepfakes And AI Watermarking

KM
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Contributor

Katten is a firm of first choice for clients seeking sophisticated, high-value legal services globally. Our nationally and internationally recognized practices include corporate, financial markets and funds, insolvency and restructuring, intellectual property, litigation, real estate, structured finance and securitization, transactional tax planning, private credit and private wealth.
On September 19, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom of California signed three bills designed to address the ethical concerns surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and protect individuals from the misuse of digital content.
United States Technology

On September 19, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom of California signed three bills designed to address the ethical concerns surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and protect individuals from the misuse of digital content. The new laws impose new requirements on AI developers and social media platforms to ensure responsible technology use while safeguarding Californians from harm. More information about the bills can be found here and we have summarized them below:

  • SB 942 by Senator Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park) focuses on helping the public more reliably identify AI-generated content. It requires widely-used generative AI systems to include provenance disclosures in the content they generate.
  • SB 926 by Dr. Aisha Wahab (D-Hayward) creates a new crime targeting AI-generated sexually explicit deepfake content. The bill makes it illegal to create and distribute sexually explicit images of a real person that appear authentic when intended to cause that person serious emotional distress.
  • SB 981, also by Dr. Wahab, addresses the issue of sexually explicit digital identity theft. It requires social media platforms to establish a mechanism for users to report sexually explicit deepfakes of themselves; once reported, this content must be temporarily blocked while the platform investigates, and permanently removed if confirmed.
"Nobody should be threatened by someone on the internet who could deepfake them, especially in sexually explicit ways. We're in an era where digital tools like AI have immense capabilities, but they can also be abused against other people. We're stepping up to protect Californians." - Governor Gavin Newsom

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

Mondaq uses cookies on this website. By using our website you agree to our use of cookies as set out in our Privacy Policy.

Learn More