Newsom signs bills at Dreamforce to combat deepfake election content

Gov. Newsom signs bills to combat deepfake election content

Appearing at the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom discussed the impact of artificial intelligence and guardrails for the technology in regards to election campaigns. While on stage with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Newsom signed three bills to combat deepfake election content.

SAN FRANCISCO - Appearing at San Francisco's Dreamforce conference, California Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed a series of bills in order to combat deepfake election content.

The start of the conference was headlined by a conversation on stage with Gov. Newsom and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff.

They discussed the impact of artificial intelligence across the state of California, as well as guardrails lawmakers are looking to put up to take on the threat of deceptive content.

In conversation with Benioff, Newsom said he had 999 bills on his desk and that 38 of them are related to issues in the digital realm, including altered digital content.

"Safeguarding the integrity of elections is essential to democracy, and it’s critical that we ensure AI is not deployed to undermine the public’s trust through disinformation – especially in today’s fraught political climate," a statement from Newsom read. "These measures will help to combat the harmful use of deepfakes in political ads and other content, one of several areas in which the state is being proactive to foster transparent and trustworthy AI."

Newsom signed three bills on stage: AB 2655 by Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), AB 2839, an urgency measure by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz) and AB 2355 by Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles).

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The laws include requirements for large online platforms to remove or label deceptive or altered content related to elections. If the online platform does not comply, candidates, elected officials, elections officials, the Attorney General, and a district attorney or city attorney can seek an injunction against the online platform for non-compliance.

Another requires election ads using AI-generated or altered content to include a disclosure.

"The availability of tools to doctor images, video, and sound is not new," Carrillo said in a statement. "However, the rapid improvements in AI and Large Language Models have made it easier to create convincingly fake images, videos, and sounds."

Carrillo said as this technology develops and becomes more accessible in political campaigns, "their impact on democracy requires urgent action."

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