California authorizes landmark AI bill to protect digital likenesses of performers. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed Assembly Bill 2602 to take effect on January 1, 2025. The bill would require studios and other employers to obtain consent before using “digital replicas” of performers. Newsom also signed AB 1836, which grants similar rights to deceased performers and requires permission from their estates before using their AI likenesses.
Introduced in April, AB 2602 covers film, TV, video games, commercials, audiobooks and non-union jobs. Deadline notes its terms are similar to those in the contract He ended the actors’ strike in 2023 Against the Hollywood studios. The film and television actors’ union SAG-AFTRA, which stuck to last year’s contract, strongly supported the bill. The Motion Picture Association initially opposed the law, but later became neutral after the amendments.
The bill requires that employers cannot use artificial intelligence in an actor’s voice or likeness if it replaces work that the performer could do in person. It also prevents digital replicas unless the actor’s contract clearly states how to use deepfake. It also voids any such contracts signed when the performer lacks legal or union representation.
draft law determines a digital copy is “a computer-generated voice or visual likeness of an individual that is readily identifiable as a highly realistic electronic representation and embodied in a sound recording, image, audiovisual work, or transmission. actually performs or appears, or the actual individual performs or appears, but the essential character of the performance or appearance is materially altered.
Meanwhile, AB 1836 expands California’s right to postmortem publicity. Hollywood must now obtain permission from the deceased’s estate before using their digital replicas. Deadline notes exceptions are included “for satire, commentary, criticism and parody and certain documentary, biographical or historical projects”.
“A bill that protects all performers, not just SAG-AFTRA performers, is a huge step forward,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator. he said the LA Times at the end of August. “In the era of digital replication, voice and likeness rights must have strong safeguards around licensing to protect against abuse, and this bill provides those safeguards.”
AB2602 passed the California State Senate on August 27 by a vote of 37-1. (Single catch was from a state senator Brian DahlRepublican.) The bill then returned to the Assembly (which passed an earlier version in May) to formalize amendments made during Senate negotiations.
On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher noted the transition the union has been fighting. “This is a momentous day for SAG-AFTRA members and everyone else because the AI protections we fought so hard for last year are now being expanded through California law thanks to the Legislature and Governor Gavin Newsom,” Drescher said.
