The California governor recently signed three AI bills into law, two of which will go into effect January 1, 2027, and one took immediate effect.
- AI Transparency: SB 1000 amended the California AI Transparency Act, and took effect immediately on signature (September 30, 2026). The law covers providers that create, code, or otherwise produce generative AI systems that are publicly accessible in California. The bill amends the law to remove the former threshold of more than a million monthly visitors or users. Systems designed primarily as assistive technology are exempt before January 1, 2029. The amendment also modifies some of the disclosure obligations. To the extent technically feasible, covered providers must include a “latent disclosure” in images, video, and audio that their systems create or alter, except through specified minor modifications. The disclosure must either be made directly, or by linking to a website with the information. The disclosure must identify the provider, system and version, creation or alteration date and time, a unique identifier, and whether the system created or altered the content. Covered providers must also make a free, publicly accessible “disclosure verification tool” available, either directly or through a qualifying third party. The verification tool must let a user assess whether content was AI-generated or AI-altered, give users the system provenance of the data in the content, and ensure that there is no personal data in the output from the verification tool. Personal data can, though, be outputted in the verification tool if the person whose data is outputted in the verification tool gave informed consent.
- Synthetic Performers: SB 1050, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 16, 2026, will take effect January 1, 2027. It will apply to synthetic performers in ads for a product or service, and may be visual replicas or synthetic voice-over narrators. Beginning January 1, 2027, the law will apply when a person creates and causes to be published an advertisement in California that prominently includes a synthetic performer. The advertisement must include a clear and conspicuous disclosure that the performer is synthetic. The disclosure must appear near the performer and be there long enough that a reasonable consumer will see and understand it. A synthetic performer is defined as a digital figure, voice, or representation created wholly or partly through artificial intelligence, machine learning, or similar computational techniques. The figure, voice, or representation must appear to be human, but cannot be based on or intended to depict a specific identifiable person. This new law is slightly different from what we have seen elsewhere, including New York, Tennessee, and Washington, whose laws focused on deepfakes and digital replicas of identifiable people.
- Customer Service AI Chatbots: AB 1609, signed September 28, 2026, will apply, starting January 1, 2027, to large, private businesses with more than $500 million in national gross annual revenue that provide goods and services to California customers. These entities will not be able to represent that an AI customer service chatbot is human. It also requires disclosure if a reasonable person could believe they are interacting with a human. That disclosure will need to be made in the interaction’s medium. It applies if someone would mistake the chatbot for a human. Additionally, covered companies must offer human assistance through a simple request feature during at least regular business hours. Covered businesses must make a good-faith effort to connect customers with a human agent within 15 minutes of the request. If that isn’t possible, to allow the person to schedule an appointment within one business day.
Putting It into Practice: These laws signal a trend for AI and privacy regulation, and we anticipate that more laws will quickly follow. In advance of changes to this and other state laws, now is a good time to review how adaptive a company’s overall privacy and AI governance program is to potential upcoming changes.