California AI Transparency Act
AI-generated text. This page was generated using artificial intelligence.
California AI Transparency Act[1]
California[1]
Legislation[1]
SB 942 (2024), amended by AB 853 (2025); Business and Professions Code Chapter 25, §§ 22757–22757.6[1]
Enacted September 19, 2024. In force[1]
Core duties operative August 2, 2026; additional phases in 2027 and 2028[1]
Not recorded as a single article-wide date; see the dated source notes.
Overview
The California AI Transparency Act is a California consumer-protection statute governing provenance and disclosures for generative-AI media.[1] Enacted as SB 942 in 2024 and amended by AB 853 in 2025, the chapter became operative on August 2, 2026.[2][1]
Scope
A “covered provider” is a person that produces a publicly accessible generative-AI system with more than one million monthly visitors or users and makes it available within California.[1] The principal August 2026 duties cover image, video, and audio content, including combinations of those media.[1]
The chapter excludes products and services providing exclusively non-user-generated video-game, television, streaming, movie, or interactive experiences.[1]
Requirements
Covered providers must make a no-cost tool available that lets users assess whether covered media was created or altered by the provider's system and outputs detected system-provenance data without exposing personal-provenance data.[1] The tool must be publicly accessible, subject to reasonable security limitations, and must support uploads or links to online content.[1]
Providers must offer users an option to include a clear, conspicuous manifest disclosure identifying covered content as AI-generated.[1] They must also include a latent disclosure in covered AI-generated media that conveys provenance information when technically feasible and reasonable.[1]
A covered provider that learns a third-party licensee modified its system to defeat required disclosures must seek compliance or revoke the license within 96 hours; the licensee must stop using the system after revocation.[1]
Enforcement
The California Attorney General, city attorneys, and county counsel may bring civil actions for penalties of $5,000 per violation, and each day of noncompliance constitutes a separate violation.[1] The statute also authorizes injunctive relief and attorney's fees for specified violations by third-party licensees.[1]
Timeline
- September 19, 2024: Governor Gavin Newsom approved SB 942 as Chapter 291.[2]
- 2025: AB 853 amended the chapter, including additional duties for large online platforms, GenAI hosting platforms, and capture-device manufacturers.[1]
- August 2, 2026: Chapter 25 became operative, including the core detection-tool and disclosure duties for covered providers.[1]
- January 1, 2027: The added large-online-platform and GenAI-hosting-platform provisions become operative.[1]
- January 1, 2028: Specified capture-device duties begin for devices first produced for sale in California on or after that date.[1]
Related articles
- August 2, 2026 daily digest
- United States State Legislation
- California AB 2013
- Generative AI Transparency
- Deepfakes
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 California Legislative Information, Business and Professions Code Chapter 25, AI Transparency Act, accessed August 5, 2026
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 California Legislative Information, SB 942 (2023–2024), Chapter 291