California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills Tuesday aimed at protecting actors and other performers from unauthorized use of their digital likenesses.
Bills introduced in the state Legislature earlier this year establish new legal protections around the reproduction of a digital copy of a performer’s image or sound, both during their lifetime and after their death.
Newsom, who governs the state that is home to the world’s largest entertainment market, signed the law amid growing concern about the impact of artificial intelligence on the labor of artists.
“We talk about California being a state of dreamers and doers. A lot of dreamers come to California, but sometimes they’re not well represented,” Newsom said in a video was shared on the social network on Tuesday. “And with SAG and this bill I just signed, we’re making sure that no one hands their name, image, or likeness over to unscrupulous people without representation or union protection.”
He was joined in the video by Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA, which represents nearly 160,000 media professionals. The union strongly advocated for the new laws, along with other protections for actors and other performers related to artificial intelligence.
Drescher said the legislation “could speak to people around the world who feel threatened by AI.”
“And while there are smart people who come up with these inventions, I don’t think they think all the way through what will happen if people don’t have a place to live and continue to feed their families. “he said in the video.
One law, AB 2602, protects artists from entering into contracts that allow their digital voices or images to be used instead of their real work or to train artificial intelligence.
Such provisions would be considered unfair and contrary to public policy under the law applicable to both past and future contracts. It also requires anyone with such an agreement to notify the other party in writing by February 1 that the clause is no longer in effect.
Another law, AB 1836, specifically protects digital likenesses as part of performers’ right to posthumous publicity, a legal right that protects people’s identities from unauthorized commercial use.
This allows rights holders to take legal action if digital copies of deceased individuals are used without permission in films or recordings. Rights holders will be entitled to at least $10,000 or actual damages for unauthorized use, whichever is greater.
This is a change that strengthens the rights of performers in an area already subject to legal conflict. Drake this year made a diss track he ran an online ad after Shakur’s estate that used an AI-generated version of the late Tupac Shakur’s voice. threatened to sue him.
The future of generative AI – and how it can be used to replace human labor – a solvent sticking point for actors and writers during their Hollywood vacations last summer.
Earlier this year, SAG-AFTRA struck a controversial deal with an artificial intelligence voice technology company. licensing of digitally reproduced sounds for video games. Hollywood video game stars in July voted to strike over persistent AI concerns.
the likes of actors like in recent years Tom Hanks and Scarlett Johanssonalong with a number of other celebrities and influencers have been used in deeply fake ads that were not coordinated.
Many performers and tech companies are also waiting to see if Newsom will sign a third bill, SB 1047, which would require AI developers to follow certain safety and security rules before training their AI models.
The legislation has received support from the likes of SAG-AFTRA, nonprofit advocacy groups and actor Mark Ruffalo. posted a video At X, he urged Newsom to sign last weekend.
“All the big tech companies and billionaire tech guys in Silicon Valley don’t want to see this happen, which should prompt us all to immediately look at why,” Ruffalo said in his video. “But artificial intelligence is about to explode, and in a way that we don’t know what the consequences are.”