Newsom signs AI ad disclosure and performer protection law

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Sept. 16, 2026, requiring advertisers to tell audiences when an AI-generated performer appears in video or audio marketing. Senate Bill 1050 also prohibits continued use of an advertisement after it is found to violate the disclosure requirement.

Sen. Angelique Ashby, a Sacramento Democrat, authored the measure. Newsom signed it with Ashby at the Los Angeles headquarters of SAG-AFTRA, the performers’ union that sponsored the bill and helped develop its language.

What SB 1050 requires

The law applies when a video or audio advertisement uses an AI-generated performer to market a product or service. In those cases, the advertisement must explicitly disclose that the performer was generated by artificial intelligence.

A synthetic performer can be an AI-created figure, voice or other digital representation. Such creations can look or sound realistic enough that an audience may have difficulty determining whether an actual person participated.

SB 1050 addresses that distinction through disclosure rather than leaving viewers to make the determination on their own. It also creates a consequence for noncompliant advertising: Once an advertisement is found to violate the law, it may no longer be used.

Why the law focuses on performers

AI tools can create digital people and voices for commercial advertising, bringing questions about whether audiences know what they are watching and how the technology affects performers’ work.

Newsom said the measure is intended to improve transparency for consumers while protecting performers as artificial intelligence changes the entertainment industry. Ashby described synthetic-performer labels as protections for both consumers and people working in California’s creative economy.

SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said the union helped write the legislation. He framed the measure as part of a broader effort to prevent deceptive uses of artificial intelligence and protect human creativity and consent.

The law does not depend on a viewer recognizing that a voice or figure is synthetic. Its requirement is placed on the advertisement using the AI-generated performer.

How SB 1050 fits with earlier California laws

The measure adds to California laws addressing digital replicas and AI-generated media. Newsom previously signed worker protections concerning actors’ and performers’ likenesses in audio and visual productions.

Those earlier protections established rules for negotiations over the use of a performer’s digital replica. They also addressed recreation of the likeness of a performer who has died.

In 2024, Newsom signed the California AI Transparency Act. That law requires watermarking for AI-generated material, directs AI companies to make detection tools available and requires disclosures that help people assess whether content was generated or changed using a company’s AI system.

California expanded those transparency requirements to large online platforms in 2025. SB 1050 adds a more specific rule for commercial video and audio advertising that features synthetic performers.

What consumers and advertisers will see

For consumers, the central change is a required notice in covered advertisements. When an AI-generated performer is used to sell a good or service, the video or audio must make that use explicit.

For advertisers, compliance centers on identifying synthetic performers in the advertisement itself. If an advertisement is found to lack the required disclosure, the law prohibits its continued use.

The measure therefore links transparency with removal of violating advertising, while building on California’s existing rules for AI-created content and performers’ digital likenesses.