Gov. Newsom signs laws to crack down on election deepfakes created by AI

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Three AI regulation bills were signed into law Tuesday by California Governor Gavin Newsom.

He signed the bills in the middle of an interview with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at the Dreamforce conference.

The two were on stage together at Dreamforce 2024 with Benioff asking Newsom questions about big issues.

Nearly 20 minutes in, as the conversation centered on AI regulations and the 30 plus bills on the governor's desk, we heard this: "I don't want to put you on the spot cause I know it's kind of like a stunt but I do have those three bills that I can sign today with you, or not, it's up to you. I happen to bring them. You want to sign some laws?" Does this comport with...?" asked Newsom to Benioff.

"It's your interview you can do whatever you want really," replied Benioff.

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The CEO seemingly staying neutral.

"There's also a good chance that Benioff wasn't prepared or briefed for that moment right? And that the governor used it to make a political splash, all of that is possible of course."

That's UC Berkeley professor and Cambrian Futures CEO Olaf Groth reacting to how it all went down.

One of the new laws forces online platforms to remove deepfake videos that target voters, another requires consent of performers to use their digital likeness, and the third extends protections to performers who are deceased involving digital recreations of them.

"These are really pretty easy ones to sign I would say." says Mark Nitzberg, who is executive director of UC Berkeley Center for Human-Compatible AI.

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Nitzberg says there really isn't much controversy around those AI bills. The SB 1047 AI safety bill is a different story. Nitzberg is in favor of that.

"It would be wise if there was some basic testing and basic liability for very powerful systems," said Nitzberg.

But Groth believes new innovation could be impacted by a bill that would require companies to do their own safety testing.

"It's own unintended consequences such as shutting down massive amounts of open source developers that provide functionality that is critical for resilience in turn, so I think on that one we're going to have to through that a little bit more," said Groth.

Bottom line while three bills were signed into law Monday - there are still many more that could be signed or vetoed in the days and weeks to come.

Large social media platforms are also required to remove the deceptive material under a first-in-the-nation law set to be enacted next year. Newsom also signed a bill requiring political campaigns to publicly disclose if they are running ads with materials altered by AI.