Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1050 into law on 16 September 2026, completing passage of the measure through the California Legislature and gubernatorial signature in the 2025 to 2026 Regular Session. The bill was authored by Senator Angelique Ashby and carries the title False advertising: synthetic performers. California now has enacted statute rather than a pending proposal on the disclosure of AI-generated performers in commercial advertising.
Senate Bill 1050 adds section 17610 to the Business and Professions Code, placing synthetic performer disclosure within California's false advertising provisions. A synthetic performer is a human-like digital figure, voice or representation created using generative artificial intelligence that gives the impression of an audio, audiovisual or visual performance and is not recognisable as any specific real person. An advertisement using one must carry a clear and conspicuous disclosure that the performer is synthetic, in wording substantially similar to a statement that the performance features a synthetic digital performer or that no human performer is depicted. Breach is actionable as false advertising under California's Unfair Competition Law.
Brands and advertising agencies producing audio, video or audiovisual messages distributed through broadcast, cable, streaming services, online platforms and digital advertising networks carry the disclosure duty at the point of creation and publication. Broadcasters, streaming platforms and advertising networks that carry an advertisement take on a separate duty once a court has ruled against it: they must remove or disable access to the advertisement so far as commercially reasonable and technically feasible. Production vendors supplying AI-generated voice and likeness assets should expect disclosure obligations to be pushed into advertising contracts, delivery specifications and warranty terms.
Two carve-outs narrow the duty. Advertisements for expressive works including films, television programmes and video games fall outside it where use of the synthetic performer aligns with the work being advertised, and advertisements that use artificial intelligence only to translate the language of a real human performer are also excluded. The definition reaches digital figures that are not recognisable as any specific real person, so an advertisement built on the likeness of an identifiable individual sits outside section 17610 and falls to be assessed under other California law.
Licentium advises advertisers, agencies, platforms and AI production vendors on disclosure duties attaching to synthetic media in commercial communications. Work we undertake includes disclosure wording and placement review for audio and audiovisual campaigns, contract terms allocating synthetic performer risk between brand, agency and production vendor, take-down and distribution procedures for advertising mediums served with a court order, and exposure assessments against California false advertising and unfair competition claims.