California’s Senate concurred 40-0 on Aug. 31 in Assembly amendments to SB 1050, sending the synthetic-performer disclosure bill to Governor Gavin Newsom. If it becomes law, every ad running an AI-generated spokesperson into the state will need a “clear and conspicuous” disclosure by Jan. 1, 2027.

The bill adds a new article to the Business and Professions Code targeting “synthetic performers,” defined as digital figures, voices, or representations generated by AI that look or sound like a real but nonexistent human. Where such a performer appears “prominently”, the bill’s word for foreground work: demonstrating a product, voicing narration, delivering the commercial message, the ad must carry language like “this performance features a synthetic performer” or “no human performer is depicted.”

Enforcement is the tell. Rather than a new agency, SB 1050 routes violations through California’s False Advertising Law (§ 17500) and Unfair Competition Law (§ 17200), the same statutes that have carried a generation of consumer-protection litigation. Advertising mediums that keep distributing a flagged ad after a court order become liable themselves. SAG-AFTRA strongly backed the bill, and the unanimous concurrence vote suggests the labor framing held.

It’s a state-by-state mosaic now. New York already has its own synthetic-performer rule, with different scope and exemptions, so a compliant California disclosure won’t automatically clear a New York ad. Greenspoon Marder is telling clients to build a searchable inventory of AI-generated creative and rewrite vendor and influencer agreements with representations and indemnities before the deadline lands.

SB 1050’s path to Newsom’s desk is one thread in a broader AI package now awaiting signature. The disclosure regime that clears the governor’s desk this month will define what “made by AI” legibly means for years.

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