California SB 1111 (Digital Replica Protections: Right of Publicity and Criminal Impersonation)

Properties

jurisdiction: US, California
level: state
domain: sectoral
status: enacted-pending
scope: Would amend California's right-of-publicity statute and criminal impersonation law to explicitly cover AI-generated 'digital replicas' of a person's voice or visual appearance used without consent.
obligations: As read from the bill's digest and confirmed against the bill's own text on leginfo: amends Civil Code Section 3344 so that likeness protection includes a digital replica, as defined in Section 3344.1, meaning 'a computer-generated, highly realistic electronic representation' that either was not actually performed by the individual or was materially altered from an actual performance; also adds a new Penal Code chapter expanding criminal impersonation liability to cover unauthorized digital replicas. Civil Code Section 3344 exempts media outlets or their employees from liability for a qualifying advertisement unless they had knowledge of the unauthorized use.
appliesTo: Any person who creates, distributes, or uses another individual's AI-generated digital replica without consent, for civil purposes (e.g. advertising, merchandise) or criminal impersonation
officialUrl: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB1111
notes: ENACTED (this run, 2026-10-10): CalMatters Digital Democracy shows SB 1111 chaptered September 30, 2026 as Chapter 862, Statutes of 2026, matching the sibling voice-likeness-rights topic's finding; aipolicydesk.com also lists it as signed Sept 30. leginfo was 403 this round. The aggregator describes the final text as extending civil liability for unauthorized use of name, voice or likeness to digital replicas (defined as a computer-generated, highly realistic electronic representation readily identifiable as the voice or visual likeness of an individual), removing a prior presumption about incidental employee likenesses in advertisements, and extending criminal impersonation statutes to digital replicas used to defraud or impersonate. The operative date was not confirmed, so effectiveDate is null. Distinct from tn-elvis-act and ca-sb942/ny-synthetic-performer-disclosure.
enactedDate: 2026-09-30

Properties

jurisdiction

US, California

level

state

domain

sectoral

status

enacted-pending

scope

Would amend California's right-of-publicity statute and criminal impersonation law to explicitly cover AI-generated 'digital replicas' of a person's voice or visual appearance used without consent.

obligations

As read from the bill's digest and confirmed against the bill's own text on leginfo: amends Civil Code Section 3344 so that likeness protection includes a digital replica, as defined in Section 3344.1, meaning 'a computer-generated, highly realistic electronic representation' that either was not actually performed by the individual or was materially altered from an actual performance; also adds a new Penal Code chapter expanding criminal impersonation liability to cover unauthorized digital replicas. Civil Code Section 3344 exempts media outlets or their employees from liability for a qualifying advertisement unless they had knowledge of the unauthorized use.

appliesTo

Any person who creates, distributes, or uses another individual's AI-generated digital replica without consent, for civil purposes (e.g. advertising, merchandise) or criminal impersonation

officialUrl

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB1111

notes

ENACTED (this run, 2026-10-10): CalMatters Digital Democracy shows SB 1111 chaptered September 30, 2026 as Chapter 862, Statutes of 2026, matching the sibling voice-likeness-rights topic's finding; aipolicydesk.com also lists it as signed Sept 30. leginfo was 403 this round. The aggregator describes the final text as extending civil liability for unauthorized use of name, voice or likeness to digital replicas (defined as a computer-generated, highly realistic electronic representation readily identifiable as the voice or visual likeness of an individual), removing a prior presumption about incidental employee likenesses in advertisements, and extending criminal impersonation statutes to digital replicas used to defraud or impersonate. The operative date was not confirmed, so effectiveDate is null. Distinct from tn-elvis-act and ca-sb942/ny-synthetic-performer-disclosure.

enactedDate

2026-09-30