Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a pair of artificial intelligence-related bills that would give actors more protections for their digital likenesses and fight against the spread of deep fakes in political ads, along with other regulations for the rapidly emerging technology.
“Those were important election integrity bills that were long overdue,” Newsom said in an interview at Dreamforce, a San Francisco conference hosted by business software giant Salesforce. “The election is happening, early voting is happening, it was imperative to me to get these bills passed.”
At least one new law could come into play in this year’s presidential election, which has already seen the proliferation of deep fake political endorsements and false videos of candidates online.
One of the new laws, AB 2839, It aims to curb manipulated content that could harm the reputation of a candidate or public confidence in the outcome of an election, excluding parody and satire. LegislationCandidates, election committees, or election officials can seek a court order to remove deep fakes. They can also sue the person who distributed or republished the misleading content for damages.
Other bills signed include AB 2655Which requires technology platforms to have processes to identify, remove and label fake content. It also exempts parody, satire and news outlets that meet certain requirements. According to AB 2355, the committee creating the political ad must disclose whether it was created or significantly altered using AI.
Deep fake images of this year’s presidential candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump, are spreading widely online, raising fears of misinformation and disinformation. Some social media companies have removed such content when it violates their standards, but it can be difficult for content moderators to keep up with the rapid sharing and uploading.
Taylor Swift was the recent victim of a deep fake. shared A post on the social media platform Truth Social suggested Swift had endorsed him, when she had not.
Swift supported Harris on Instagram, writing, “Recently I learned that ‘my’ AI falsely supporting Donald Trump for president was posted on their site.” “This really highlighted my fears about AI and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It led me to the conclusion that I as a voter need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”
The bills Newsom signed into law also address concerns raised during last year’s strikes in Hollywood led by the artists’ guilds SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America, which fought to protect actors and writers who worried that advances in artificial intelligence technology could put them at risk of losing their jobs.
Two laws signed by Newsom will give artists more protections with regard to their digital photographs.
One of these bills prohibits the creation and distribution of digital replicas of a deceased person’s estate without permission and provides for penalties for the same.
The second rule makes a contract unenforceable if a digital replica of an actor was used when that person could have acted in person or if the contract does not include a reasonably specific description of how the digital replica will be used. Rules governing the contracts take effect in January.
“No one should have to live in fear of becoming someone else’s unpaid digital puppet,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director and chief negotiator, said in a statement. “Governor Newsom has led the way to protect individuals and families from AI replication without true consent.”
The new laws were part of nearly 50 AI-related bills in the state legislature, as the state’s political leaders try to address concerns raised by the public about AI. One bill that Newsom has not yet made a decision on is SB 1047, a bill that Newsom has not yet made a decision on. AI Security Bill Introduced by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), it has been heatedly debated in Silicon Valley.
Under the bill, developers of future advanced AI models would be required to take security measures to prevent the technology from being misused to launch cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.
“The governor has made public statements about supporting both innovation and regulation in general, but not wanting regulation to harm innovation,” Wiener said at a press conference Tuesday. “Those are also consistent with my views, and those statements are consistent with SB 1047 as well.”
On Tuesday, Newsom told the Times that he had not yet made up his mind on the bill.
“This is one of those bills that very rarely gets to your desk, where it depends on who the last person is on the call and how persuasive he or she is,” Newsom said. “It has divided a lot of people.”
Newsom said that before he took the stage at Dreamforce, there were two politicians in the green room (whom he did not want to name) debating the bill with polar opposite views. “It also creates a lot of division among people here,” he said.
“The bottom line is that no matter what happens on 1047, it’s not the last word, it’s not the holy grail of regulation in this area,” Newsom said. “… All of this is evolving and I want to make sure that we have a dynamic regulatory environment and that we’re constantly iterating.”
In a fireside chat during Dreamforce, Newsom said he wants to bring in a regulatory framework that can support investment. At the same time, “we should have enough flexibility to deal with unintended consequences, but we should not over-compensate for concerns that may never materialize,” Newsom said.
Dreamforce is San Francisco’s largest conference and is expected to draw 45,000 attendees, according to the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development. The three-day event, which began Tuesday, is being touted by Salesforce as “the world’s largest AI event.”
Staff writer Queenie Wong contributed to this report.
