California’s AI Frontier: New Laws Empower Actors and Protect Digital Likenesses in Hollywood

Today California Governor Gavin Newsom signed two pivotal bills aimed at regulating the use of AI-generated digital replicas of actors and performers. These bills—AB 2602 and AB 1836—come at a time when artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the entertainment industry, raising concerns about how AI could exploit performers' likenesses without their consent.

Key Details of the Bills:

AB 2602: This law requires explicit consent before AI can be used to create digital replicas of living performers' likenesses or voices. It mandates that contracts detail how such digital replicas will be used, ensuring that actors are professionally represented during negotiations. This bill is a direct response to concerns raised by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) during their 2023 strike, as it offers more robust protections for actors in an age where AI technology can easily replicate human features and voices.

AB 1836: This bill extends protections to deceased performers, prohibiting the commercial use of their digital replicas in any medium—such as films, TV shows, or audiobooks—without the consent of their estate. This law helps prevent the unauthorized use of dead actors' likenesses, a practice that has become increasingly common in Hollywood.

Impact on the Entertainment Industry:

The laws are expected to safeguard actors' rights and provide more control over their likenesses in Hollywood, which is increasingly experimenting with AI for cost-cutting and creative purposes. By ensuring consent is obtained, these regulations help protect the livelihoods of actors and performers, making sure they are adequately compensated for any use of their image or voice. Additionally, the measures foster transparency in the industry's growing use of AI, setting a precedent for similar laws in other states.

Plausible Loopholes and Challenges:

While these laws are a significant step forward, there remain some gaps that could be exploited. For instance:

Global Enforcement: The laws only apply within California, and since Hollywood productions are often international, there could be difficulties in enforcing these rules across borders.

Vague Contractual Provisions: If contracts fail to clearly specify how AI replicas will be used, it could lead to legal disputes. Additionally, as AI technology evolves, it might outpace the legal language in these contracts, creating loopholes for studios to exploit performers' likenesses in unintended ways.

Posthumous Rights: Although AB 1836 protects deceased performers, enforcing these rights may become complicated if estates disagree on how the likeness should be used, or if there is no clear will in place.

These issues highlight the need for continuous updates to legislation as AI technology develops, ensuring protections keep pace with new advancements in digital media. Nonetheless, this legislation marks a critical move in balancing innovation with ethical standards in Hollywood.