Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, signed three laws during a conference in San Francisco with the objective of combating deepfake election content.
Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, has implemented a stringent new law to discourage the use of artificial intelligence deepfakes with political themes during elections.
It occurs mere weeks after Elon Musk reposted a parody of a Kamala Harris campaign ad on X that amassed millions of views and employed AI-powered voice modulation to create the impression that Harris referred to herself as an incompetent presidential candidate.
Newsom pledged to sign a measure outlawing the practice “in a matter of weeks” and specifically referenced Musk’s post in late July.
The new law, AB 2839, is effective immediately and prohibits individuals and organizations from knowingly disseminating election deepfakes and other “materially deceptive content.”
The distribution of materially deceptive aural or visual media of a candidate within 60 days of an election is the sole prohibition under current laws. The new law extends the prohibition to 120 days prior to an election in California and, in certain instances, to 60 days following an election.
Later that same day, Newsom also signed two other laws that will help stop political AI fakes, but they won’t take effect until January.
AB 2355, one of the laws, will mandate the inclusion of labels on political advertisements that are generated or substantially altered with AI.
AB 2655, on the other hand, mandates that social media platforms with over one million California users, including Facebook and X, filter deceptive content related to elections during designated timeframes.
Additionally, it will render platforms accountable for neglecting to eliminate content within 72 hours of obtaining a user report.
It is believed that the governor signed the measures during a fireside conversation with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco. Notably, all three statutes are exclusive to California.
Ilana Beller, an organising manager of the democracy team at consumer advocacy organisation Public Citizen, informed The New York Times that the bill is significantly distinct from others that have been introduced.
In the interim, on September 17, Newsom signed two additional bills, AB 1836 and AB 2602, with the objective of providing enhanced protection to performers regarding the use of their digital likenesses.
In order to safeguard performers from the misuse of AI, Gavin Newsom (bottom left) signs AI legislation. Instagram is the source.
The fake Harris campaign parody ad, which was uploaded on July 26, has garnered 25.4 million views on X alone and remains accessible on the platform as of today.
Musk later defended his retweet of the original post, ridiculing Newsom: “I consulted with Professor Suggon Deeznutz, a renowned global authority, and he confirmed that parody is permissible in the United States.”
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