Gov. Gavin Newsom Signs AI Bills Backed by SAG-AFTRA

California Gov. Gavin Newsom visited SAG-AFTRA headquarters on Monday to sign two bills regulating the use of performances generated by artificial intelligence.

The actors’ union lobbied for passage of the legislation, which builds on the protections won during the four-month actors’ strike against the major studios last year. The bills cover a wider range of performances than film an TV, including voiceover work, commercials and video game performances.

“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,” Newsom said in a statement. “This legislation ensures the industry can continue thriving while strengthening protections for workers and how their likeness can or cannot be used.”

Newsom still has to decide whether to sign several other AI bills passed by the California legislature this session, including one imposing a safety testing requirement on AI developers.

The entertainment bills have been less controversial. The Motion Picture Association, which represents the major studios, initially opposed them, but switched its position to neutral once amendments were made to protect standard post-production techniques and free speech rights.

SAG-AFTRA is not trying to prevent producers from using AI to replicate performances. But it does want to ensure that actors and other performers don’t see their likenesses used without their consent.

One of the measures, AB 2602, requires that contracts for AI performances must clearly state the intended use. Performance contracts often include sweeping likeness rights, with language like “throughout the universe” and “in all media whether now known or hereafter devised.” The bill would make clear that such contracts do not grant the right to create an AI replica, unless that is spelled out with reasonable specificity.

The other, AB 1836, extends the same principle to deceased performers, granting the performer’s estate the right to consent to an AI replica. The right lasts 70 years after the performer’s death.

Newsom signed the bills alongside Fran Drescher, the president of the actors’ union, Joely Fisher, the secretary-treasurer, and Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the executive director.

SAG-AFTRA is pushing for similar legislation in Congress, the No Fakes Act, which would outlaw non-consensual replicas of anyone, including performers.

“They say as California goes, so goes the nation!” Drescher said in a statement.