• by Wendy Davis , 9 hours ago

California Governor Gavin Newsom this week signed a law requiring ads using "synthetic" performers to clearly disclose that the digital figures were generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

Newsom tweeted Thursday that the bill (SB 1050), which was backed by the union Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, represents "bold action to address the increasingly urgent risks posed by AI -- including by protecting workers."

The statute itself says the disclosure mandate "is necessary to prevent deceptive or misleading advertising practices."

The law generally defines "synthetic" performers as AI-generated digital figures or voices that appear human, don't appear to be a recognizable person.

The measure only applies if the AI-generated characters are featured prominently -- which SB 1050 says occurs in three circumstances.

The first involves synthetic performers "in the foreground and demonstrating or illustrating the product or service." The second involves the digital performers narrating an ad, and the third involves the characters illustrating or reacting to narration.

Ads for movies, TV shows, video games and the like are exempt from the disclosure requirement, as long as the use of AI-generated characters in an ad is consistent with their use in the program or game being advertised.

The measure also requires mediums to stop distributing ads that have been found by a court to violate the disclosure law.

Major ad industry groups opposed the legislation.

"Rather than targeting deceptive conduct, the bill establishes an overbroad mandatory labeling regime, exposes businesses to opportunistic litigation, and places severe burdens on ordinary commercial speech," the Association of National Advertisers, American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Advertising Federation and Digital Advertising Alliance said in a September 4 letter unsuccessfully urging Newsom to veto the legislation.

"Sweeping in routine creative processes where no consumer harm exists dilutes consumer awareness and creates disclosure overload, ultimately undermining transparency where it would be more genuinely helpful to consumers," the groups added.

Among other concerns with the statute, the ad groups argued that the law's disclosure requirement applies regardless of whether a synthetic performer is likely to deceive a consumer regarding a material claim.

"Instead, it mandates disclaimers even when a synthetic performer is used for purely illustrative, background or thematic purposes," the ad groups write.

The provision requiring online publishers to remove ads that are found to violate the law appears inconsistent with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman tells MediaPost. That law broadly says interactive services aren't liable for material provided by third parties, and some judges have concluded that Section 230 prevents courts from ordering online publishers to remove content.

"As a practical matter, I don't know what publishers would do if they received one of these court orders," he says. "But in the abstract, not knowing the situation of any individual publisher, it looks like a 230 violation."