New Jersey AI Likeness Protection Act (A5088)

Properties

kind: law
target: voice-and-likeness
jurisdiction: US, New Jersey
mechanism: Creates civil liability for publishing, distributing, transmitting, or otherwise making available a 'realistic representation,' a highly realistic electronic representation created using a GenAI system that is readily identifiable as an individual's voice or visual likeness (whether the individual never performed at all or the performance's fundamental character was materially altered), without authorization or consent from the individual or, for a minor, a parent or legal guardian. Remedies are injunctive relief plus the greater of actual damages and reasonable attorneys' fees, or a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 per violation. Content bearing a clear and conspicuous label or watermark identifying it as GenAI-produced is exempt. Where the offender is a minor, the prevailing plaintiff is limited to injunctive relief for a first violation only.
status: committee
owns: Distinct from ny-digital-replica-contracts-act (which governs pre-use licensing contracts for entertainment-industry replicas) and tn-elvis-act (a right-of-publicity tort) by creating a standalone civil cause of action with a fixed $1,000-per-violation penalty cap, an explicit label/watermark safe harbor, and a graduated remedy scheme that shields a minor defendant from damages on a first violation.
source: New Jersey Legislature, Assembly Bill 5088 (2026-2027 session), introduced text
notes: Introduced May 14, 2026; referred to the Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, per the bill's own header and secondary trackers (LegiScan, TrackBill). No confirmed committee or floor action found within the 2026-08-05 to 2026-08-19 window; included because it is a genuinely new, untracked voice-and-likeness civil-liability bill. The quoted definition and remedy language were retrieved via an automated fetch of the official njleg.gov introduced-bill page rather than a manual line-by-line read of the HTML; treat as a close paraphrase of the statutory text pending direct confirmation of exact section numbering.

Provenance

Source: https://pub.njleg.gov/Bills/2026/A5500/5088_I1.HTM

Properties

kind

law

target

voice-and-likeness

jurisdiction

US, New Jersey

mechanism

Creates civil liability for publishing, distributing, transmitting, or otherwise making available a 'realistic representation,' a highly realistic electronic representation created using a GenAI system that is readily identifiable as an individual's voice or visual likeness (whether the individual never performed at all or the performance's fundamental character was materially altered), without authorization or consent from the individual or, for a minor, a parent or legal guardian. Remedies are injunctive relief plus the greater of actual damages and reasonable attorneys' fees, or a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 per violation. Content bearing a clear and conspicuous label or watermark identifying it as GenAI-produced is exempt. Where the offender is a minor, the prevailing plaintiff is limited to injunctive relief for a first violation only.

status

committee

owns

Distinct from ny-digital-replica-contracts-act (which governs pre-use licensing contracts for entertainment-industry replicas) and tn-elvis-act (a right-of-publicity tort) by creating a standalone civil cause of action with a fixed $1,000-per-violation penalty cap, an explicit label/watermark safe harbor, and a graduated remedy scheme that shields a minor defendant from damages on a first violation.

source

New Jersey Legislature, Assembly Bill 5088 (2026-2027 session), introduced text

notes

Introduced May 14, 2026; referred to the Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, per the bill's own header and secondary trackers (LegiScan, TrackBill). No confirmed committee or floor action found within the 2026-08-05 to 2026-08-19 window; included because it is a genuinely new, untracked voice-and-likeness civil-liability bill. The quoted definition and remedy language were retrieved via an automated fetch of the official njleg.gov introduced-bill page rather than a manual line-by-line read of the HTML; treat as a close paraphrase of the statutory text pending direct confirmation of exact section numbering.