California enacts law requiring disclosure of AI-generated synthetic performers in ads

The Transparency Coalition, in a weekly update on AI legislation, reports that California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1050, a bill by Senator Angelique Ashby. The measure requires advertisers to plainly disclose when a video or audio ad features AI-generated performers, called synthetic performers. According to the update, Newsom signed it on a Wednesday at the headquarters of the union SAG-AFTRA, which the group identifies as the main advocacy organisation behind the bill. The Transparency Coalition says it also supported the measure.

The update describes the week as relatively quiet for AI policy in California, coming after the governor signed a large batch of AI bills earlier in the month. A section on the legislature notes that Newsom had until 30 September to decide the fate of more than 30 AI-related measures, and that he had so far signed roughly 20 AI bills this year, with about a dozen more passed but unsigned at one point.

Beyond California, the coalition says AI bills are still under consideration in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, plus New Jersey and North Carolina. In Pennsylvania the House reconvened on 9 September in a special Philadelphia session, and the Senate was due back on 28 September. The group also points readers to its mid-year report, which tallies 85 AI-related laws enacted across 27 states in 2026 to date, and says lawmakers have passed measures covering chatbot safety, children's online lives, consumer rights, health-related authorization and frontier model oversight. It expects more states to act by year's end.