Gov. Newsom Signs Bills to Protect Digital Likeness of Performers

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom Sept. 17 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  or AI and other digital media technologies in entertainment by giving workers more protections.

“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.

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

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.