More exciting AI news from California: two anti-deepfake bills have passed the California Legislature! I've been working on with these two bills as part of the team at the California Initiative for Technology and Democracy since I joined late last year. After testifying in Sacramento *nine* times this legislative session, it is very gratifying to see these bills headed to Governor Newsom's desk for signature! From the release:
Headline: Groundbreaking Wins Address Unregulated AI’s Threat to Our Democracy
SACRAMENTO – This week, legislation addressing the threat that AI-powered disinformation poses to our elections cleared the last major hurdle in the California state legislature. The bills, sponsored by the California Initiative for Technology and Democracy (CITED), a project of California Common Cause, passed the Senate and Assembly floors and now head to Governor Newsom’s desk to be signed into law by the end of September.
“If these bills are signed by the Governor, California will have taken the most assertive steps in the U.S. to date to address the dangers that AI and disinformation pose to our elections,” said Jonathan Mehta Stein, CALIFORNIA COMMON CAUSE’s Executive Director and CITED’s Co-Founder. “We can’t afford to wait for another election or legislative cycle to take action. CITED’s legislation can help lead the way for reforms in other states and nationally in Congress.”
The legislative package aims to help regulate the dangers of disinformation turbocharged by AI and social media without stifling innovation or freedom of speech. The two CITED bills that now sit on the Governor’s desk are:
> AB 2839, from Assemblymember Gail Pellerin. Keeps misleading deepfakes out of campaign ads and election communications close to Election Day, protecting candidates and election officials while respecting the First Amendment. This law would have addressed Elon Musk’s sharing of a misleading deepfake video of Vice President Kamala Harris, which was viewed 150 million times in one week on X.
> AB 2655, from Assemblymember Marc Berman. Combats online disinformation in our elections by requiring social media platforms to label generative AI deepfakes that can deceive voters as digital or fake content, and by prohibiting the posting of the most pernicious of them close to Election Day.
Link to the full release in comments.
A note about AB 3211 and SB 942: Unfortunately, one bill that I did a lot of work on this year, AB 3211, did not receive a floor vote in time for the midnight deadline Saturday. At the same time, there is a silver lining—SB 942, the California AI Transparency Act, has now passed the Senate and Assembly, and is on the way to the Governor for signature. The two bills have notable similarities and there are some ways that SB 942 is better than AB 3211. I now fully support SB 942 and hope to see the Governor sign it into law quickly.
Common Cause | California State Senate | California State Assembly