California Now Requires Ads to Disclose AI-Generated Performers

A new state law forces advertisers to label video and audio ads that use AI-made performers instead of real people, and bans ads that don't comply.

What happened: Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1050, a California law requiring any video or audio advertisement that uses an AI-generated performer to sell a product or service to clearly disclose that fact. Ads that don't comply can be pulled from circulation. Newsom signed the bill at the Los Angeles headquarters of SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union that helped write the language, alongside its author, Senator Angelique Ashby.

Why it matters: Synthetic performers can now look and sound close enough to real people that viewers can't easily tell the difference. That opens the door to ads that feel deceptive and to studios or brands using AI stand-ins instead of paying human actors. The law tries to address both at once: giving shoppers a heads-up about what they're watching, and giving performers a legal backstop as AI tools get better at mimicking them.

How it works, plainly: Any ad using an AI-generated performer, a synthetic figure, voice, or likeness meant to sell something, must explicitly disclose that to the audience. Regulators can order noncompliant ads pulled. The law adds to California's 2024 AI Transparency Act, which already requires watermarking and AI-detection tools, and to earlier rules letting performers control how their digital likeness is used and negotiated.

The rollout: SB 1050 lands alongside other California AI laws signed the same month: SB 813, requiring independent verification of AI systems, and AB 1405, mandating third-party audits, plus recent limits on companion chatbots and addictive social media features for under-16 users. With federal AI regulation largely absent under the current administration, California continues positioning its rules as a template other states may eventually follow.