Newsom signs series of bills to restrict AI, 'deepfakes' around election

On Tuesday, Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom signed three bills to crack down on the use of artificial intelligence and deepfake content in political ads ahead of the 2024 election. 
 

AB 2655, AB 2839, and AB 2355 were signed into law. AB 2655 requires that large platforms block the posting of or label "materially deceptive content related to elections in California, during specified periods before and after an election." The period lasts from 120 days out from election day to 60 days past the day. The law enables courts to stop the distribution of the materials and impose civil penalties for non-compliance.

AB 2839 "expands the timeframe in which a committee or other entity is prohibited from knowingly distributing an advertisement or other election material containing deceptive AI-generated or manipulated content," a press release stated. AB 2355 requires that electoral advertisements featuring AI-generated or altered content feature an altered content disclosure.

Newsom signed the bills while appearing at San Francisco's Dreamforce conference. According to Fox 2, The conference was headlined by a conversation with Gov. Newsom and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff discussing the impact of artificial intelligence in the Golden State and the threat of deceptive content.

During the conversation, Newsom said he had 999 bills on his desk and that 38 of them were related to digital content. He said in a statement, “Safeguarding the integrity of elections is essential to democracy, and it’s critical that we ensure AI is not deployed to undermine the public’s trust through disinformation -– especially in today’s fraught political climate. 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.”

Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, author of the law banning election deepfakes, said in a statement, “With fewer than 50 days until the general election, there is an urgent need to protect against misleading, digitally altered content that can interfere with the election. California is taking a stand against the manipulative use of deepfake technology to deceive voters.”

Newsom pledged in July to crack down on election deepfakes in response to a video posted by X CEO Elon Musk that featured altered images of Vice President Kamala Harris.

On Tuesday, Newsom also signed two other bills that will protect actors from unauthorized AI use without their consent.