Pennsylvania has enacted a disclosure statute for artificial intelligence in advertising. Senate Bill 806 passed on third consideration and final passage in the House on 7 October 2026 by 163 votes to 40, was signed in the Senate and the House on 20 October 2026, was presented to the Governor on 21 October 2026, and was approved by Governor Josh Shapiro on 22 October 2026 as Act 99 of 2026. Section 1 gives the statute the short title the Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act. This is enacted law rather than a proposal, and Section 6 fixes commencement at 60 days after approval, which falls on 21 December 2026.
Section 4(a) reaches an advertiser that knowingly, recklessly or willfully creates or disseminates, or causes to be created or disseminated, an advertisement using synthetic content in a way that creates a false consumer perception about the nature, origin or authenticity of the goods or services advertised, without a clear and conspicuous disclosure. The disclosure must state that the advertisement contains content that was modified or generated using artificial intelligence. It must appear the first time the synthetic content is shown to the consumer, sit in the same medium as that content, and be permanent or extraordinarily difficult to remove where technically feasible. Section 3 carries the definitions of artificial intelligence, generative artificial intelligence and synthetic content, and the clear and conspicuous standard that governs size, placement and duration.
Advertisers, brand owners, advertising agencies and production studios placing synthetic audio or video into Pennsylvania consumer campaigns carry the labelling duty at the point of first exposure. Section 4(a) reaches a party that disseminates or causes the dissemination of the advertisement, not only the party that produced the synthetic content, so distribution partners sit inside the same duty. Section 5 lets the Pennsylvania Attorney General or a district attorney sue in the name of the Commonwealth for a temporary or permanent injunction and bring a civil action, and Section 5(c) allows a court to award a civil fine not exceeding 3,000 dollars together with actual attorney fees and court costs.
Section 4(b) removes three categories from the duty: content that is evidently fictional based on the content or context of the depiction, content that is parody, satire, commentary or criticism, and content limited to text. The text-only carve-out leaves AI-written advertising copy outside the labelling duty while synthetic imagery, video and audio sit inside it. The 60-day commencement in Section 6 gives advertisers until 21 December 2026 to fit disclosures into live Pennsylvania campaigns. Whether a depiction is evidently fictional turns on content or context under Section 4(b), and the act leaves that judgment to the enforcing authority and the court in the first instance.
Licentium advises advertisers, platforms and technology suppliers on disclosure duties attaching to synthetic media under United States state law and comparable regimes. Work we undertake includes mapping synthetic content disclosure duties across state statutes, drafting disclosure wording and placement standards for campaign assets, reviewing agency and production contracts for allocation of labelling responsibility, and preparing responses to Attorney General inquiries.
Source: Senate Bill 806, Printer's No. 1808, enacted as Act No. 99 of 2026, Pennsylvania General Assembly