What you need to know: The Governor signed two bills to require the consent of actors and performers to use their digital likeness, strengthening protections for workers.

SACRAMENTO - Governor Gavin Newsom signed two bills to help actors and performers protect their digital likenesses in audio and visual productions, including those who are deceased. This legislation will help ensure the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other digital media technologies in entertainment by giving workers more protections.

A big step forward for protecting workers in the evolving AI space!@SAGAFTRA President @FranDrescher joins Gov. @GavinNewsom to celebrate two new laws ensuring performers’ legal rights when negotiating digital replicas & setting rules for recreating performers who’ve passed. pic.twitter.com/WyrqyJGvzB  - California Governor (@CAgovernor) September 17, 2024

“We continue to wade through uncharted territory when it comes to how AI and digital media is transforming the entertainment industry, but our North Star has always been to protect workers. This legislation ensures the industry can continue thriving while strengthening protections for workers and how their likeness can or cannot be used.” - Governor Gavin Newsom

“It is a momentous day for SAG-AFTRA members and everyone else because the AI protections we fought so hard for last year are now expanded upon by California law thanks to the legislature and Governor Gavin Newsom. They say as California goes, so goes the nation!” – SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said.

AB 2602 by Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) requires contracts to specify the use of AI-generated digital replicas of a performer’s voice or likeness, and the performer must be professionally represented in negotiating the contract. This will help protect performers’ and actors’ careers, ensuring that AI is not used to replicate their voice or likeness without permission.

“I am grateful that Governor Newsom has signed AB 2602, a bill that will safeguard a performer’s right to their digital self and protect artists’ livelihoods. While this bill was informed by negotiations during the historic strike by SAG-AFTRA, AB 2602 shows how California can strike the right balance between AI innovation and protecting workers in the digital age.” - Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose)

AB 1836 by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) prohibits commercial use of digital replicas of deceased performers in films, TV shows, video games, audiobooks, sound recordings and more, without first obtaining the consent of those performers’ estates. It aims to curb unauthorized uses of digital replicas, encompassing any audiovisual work or sound recordings linked to performances delivered by artists when they were alive

“I am grateful Governor Newsom signed AB 1836. California has always had the best protections for artists in order to safeguard their work and likeness, but artificial intelligence (AI) requires us to continue to update the law to ensure that we are fully protecting our amazing performers. It is now possible to create new performances of artists even after their death. Individuals and their estates deserve protections that extend beyond their life to ensure they control their own likeness and profit from it; that is exactly what AB 1836 does.” - Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda)

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, everything from reducing traffic to helping address homelessness. Last month, the state partnered with NVIDIA to launch a first-of-its-kind AI collaboration and earlier hosted an AI summit with leaders to discuss how the state can best use this transformative technology to better serve the people of California. Last year, Governor Newsom signed an executive order laying out how California’s measured approach will focus on shaping the future of ethical, transparent, and trustworthy AI, while remaining the world’s AI leader.