California lawmakers have passed a sweeping set of bills aimed at regulating the artificial intelligence industry, combating deepfakes, and protecting workers from exploitation as the technology rapidly evolves.
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| California leads the nation in AI regulation |
The Democrat-controlled California legislature, in its final week of the session, approved hundreds of bills that will now head to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk. The deadline for the governor to act is Saturday. Newsom, a Democrat, has until September 30 to sign the proposals into law, veto them, or let them take effect without his signature. While he indicated in July that he would sign a bill to combat deepfakes in elections, he has not commented on the other measures. Earlier this summer, he cautioned that overregulating the industry at home could harm it. In recent years, he has often cited the state's budget woes as a reason for rejecting legislation he might otherwise support.
Here's a look at some of the AI bills that lawmakers passed this year.
Deepfakes and Child Exploitation Concerned about the increasing use of AI tools to deceive voters and create deepfake pornography involving minors, California lawmakers this week passed several bills to combat these practices. Lawmakers approved a measure that bans deepfakes in the context of elections and requires large social media platforms to remove the misleading material 120 days before Election Day and 60 days after. Campaign entities would also be required to publicly disclose whether they are running ads with AI-altered material.
Two proposals would make it illegal to use AI tools to create images and videos of child sexual abuse. Current law does not allow prosecutors to pursue people who possess or distribute AI-generated images of child sexual abuse unless they can prove the material depicts a real person. Another proposal would require technology companies and social media platforms to provide their users with AI detection tools.
Comprehensive AI Safety Measures California could become the first U.S. state to implement comprehensive safety measures for large AI models. The bill sent to the governor requires developers to disclose the data they use to train their models. The effort aims to shed more light on how AI models work and prevent future disasters. Another measure would require the state to establish safety protocols to prevent risks and algorithmic bias before government agencies can contract for the use of AI models in decision-making.
Protecting Workers from AI-Generated Clones Inspired by the months-long Hollywood actors' strike last year, lawmakers passed a proposal to protect workers, including voice actors and audiobook narrators, from being replaced by their AI-generated clones. The measure mirrors language in the contract that SAG-AFTRA reached with studios last December. One proposal would ban state and local governments from replacing call center workers with AI. California could also penalize the digital cloning of deceased individuals without the consent of their estate.
Boosting AI Literacy As companies increasingly integrate AI into citizens' daily lives, state lawmakers have also passed several bills to improve AI literacy.
One proposal would require a state task force to consider the inclusion of AI literacy in math, science, history, and social studies curricula. Another proposal would develop guidelines for how schools could use AI in the classroom.
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| California is setting the standard for AI regulation! |