Golden State Today

Governor Newsom signs bills to crack down on sexually explicit deepfakes & require AI watermarking

Sep 19, 2024

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today signed three significant pieces of legislation designed to address the ethical concerns surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and protect individuals from the misuse of digital content. The new laws impose requirements on AI developers and social media platforms to ensure responsible technology use while safeguarding Californians from harm.

“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,” said Governor Gavin Newsom.

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. These disclosures, while invisible to humans, should be detectable by free tools offered together with these systems. Users can use these tools to identify AI-generated content. This measure ensures transparency and accountability in the rapidly evolving world of digital content creation.

“Going forward it’s crucial that individuals know if content was created by AI or not. SB 942 is a significant advancement over anything that’s come before because it requires large Gen AI companies to both label AI generated content and provide an AI detection capability,” said Senator Becker. “By signing this bill, Governor Newsom is providing Californians with essential tools to navigate the evolving digital landscape and solidifying our position as a leader in enacting sensible AI regulations that protect consumers without stifling innovation.”

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.

“Victims of digital sexual assault are forever traumatized by their perpetrators through damaged reputations that lead to a lack of workplace promotions, mental health deterioration, shame, and isolation,” said Dr. Wahab. “SB 926 gives these victims—who are predominantly women—and law enforcement the tools they need to ensure perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

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. This legislation empowers individuals to take swift action to protect their digital identity and privacy in cases where their likeness is misused.

“The everyday person doesn’t have the celebrity to have the internet scrubbed of digitized sexually explicit media in less than 24 hours,” said Dr. Wahab.“The digital divide is as much about power on the internet as it is about access to it, and SB 981 will rebalance that power by requiring platforms to be more proactive when they receive reports of sexually explicit digital identity theft.”

Earlier this week, Governor Newsom also signed a series of bills to protect performers’ digital likenesses and combat deepfake election content.

AI is already changing the world, and California will play a pivotal role in defining that future. The state is home to 32 of the world’s 50 leading AI companies, high-impact research and education institutions, and a quarter of the technology’s patents and conference papers.

California has led the nation in harnessing these transformative technologies while studying the risks they present. The state has undertaken efforts to utilize AI to solve challenges ranging from reducing traffic congestion to addressing homelessness. Last month, California partnered with NVIDIA for an innovative AI collaboration initiative and hosted an AI summit with leaders discussing how best to leverage this technology for public benefit. Last year, Governor Newsom signed an executive order outlining California’s approach towards ethical, transparent, and trustworthy AI development while maintaining its leadership position globally.

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