Here’s what’s illegal under California’s 8 new AI laws (and counting).

California Governor Gavin Newsom is currently considering 38 bills related to AI, including the highly controversial SB 1047, which the state legislature has sent to his desk for final approval. These bills attempt to address the most pressing issues in artificial intelligence: everything from future AI programs creating existential risks, deep nudity from AI image generators, to Hollywood studios creating AI clones of dead actors.

“Home to many of the world’s leading AI companies, California is working to harness this transformative technology to help address pressing challenges while studying the risks involved,” Governor Newsom’s office said in a press release.

So far, Governor Newsom has signed eight of them into law, some of which are the most far-reaching AI laws in America.

Deep nudity

Newsom signed two executive orders dealing with the creation and distribution of real nude people on Thursday. SB 926 criminalizes this act, making it illegal to report AI-generated nude images to someone like them.

SB 981, which also became law on Thursday, requires social media platforms to establish channels for users to report extreme nudity like them. The content should then be temporarily blocked while the forum investigates it, and permanently removed if confirmed.

Watermarks

Also on Thursday, Newsom signed a bill to help the public identify AI-generated content. SB 942 requires widely used AI-generated systems to disclose that they are AI-generated in their content origination data. For example, all images created by OpenAI’s Dall-E now require a small tag in their metadata that says they were created by AI.

Many AI companies are already doing this, and there are several free tools out there that can help people read this raw data and visualize AI-generated content.

Election deepfakes

Earlier this week, California’s governor signed three laws cracking down on AI deepfakes that could influence elections.

One of California’s new laws, AB 2655, requires major Internet platforms, such as Facebook and X, to remove or label deep AIs related to elections, and to create channels to report such content. Candidates and elected officials can seek emergency relief if a large online platform does not support action.

Another law, AB 2839, targets social media users who post, or repost, AI deepfakes that could potentially deceive voters in upcoming elections. The law went into effect immediately on Tuesday, and Newsom suggested that Elon Musk could be at risk of violating it.

AI-generated political ads now require direct disclosure under a new California law, AB 2355. That means going forward, Trump may not be able to get away with posting AI deepfakes of Taylor Swift endorsing her on Truth Social (she endorsed Kamala Harris). The FCC has proposed a similar disclosure requirement at the national level and has already made robocalls using AI-generated voices illegal.

Players and AI

The two laws Newsom signed Tuesday — which SAG-AFTRA, the nation’s largest actors’ union, had pushed for — create new standards for California’s media industry. AB 2602 requires studios to get permission from an actor before creating an AI-generated voice or likeness.

Meanwhile, AB 1836 prohibits studios from creating digital likenesses of deceased actors without permission from their estates (eg, legally cleared likenesses used in the movies “Alien” and “Star Wars”, as well as other films).

What is left?

Governor Newsom still has 30 AI-related bills to decide before the end of September. While speaking with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff on Tuesday during the Dreamforce 2024 conference, Newsom may have tipped his hat to SB 1047, and how he thinks about regulating the AI ​​industry more broadly.

“There is one bill that is like a big one in terms of public discourse and awareness; this is SB 1047,” Newsom said on stage Tuesday. “What are the perceived risks of AI and what are the perceived risks? I can’t solve everything. What can we solve? So that’s how we’re taking the whole spectrum on this one. “

Check back to this article for updates on the AI ​​laws the California governor signs, and what he doesn’t.