|
Amended
IN
Senate
April 16, 2026 |
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Amended
IN
Senate
March 25, 2026 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Bill
No. 1146
| Introduced by Senator Gonzalez |
February 18, 2026 |
An act to add Section 651.4 to the Business and Professions Code, relating to advertisements.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1146, as amended, Gonzalez.
Advertisement claims: health-related consumer products and services: artificial intelligence. digital replicas and synthetic performers.
Existing law makes it unlawful for any person doing business in California and advertising to consumers in California to make any false or misleading advertising claim.
Existing law makes it unlawful for healing arts licensees, as specified, to disseminate or cause to be disseminated any form of public communication containing a false, fraudulent, misleading, or deceptive statement, claim, or image in order to induce the provision of services or products in connection with their licensed professional practice or business. Existing law makes a violation of these provisions punishable as a misdemeanor and, in the case of a licensed person, provides that a violation constitutes unprofessional conduct and grounds for suspension or revocation of a license by the relevant board.
Existing law makes a person who produces, distributes, or makes available the digital replica, as defined, of a deceased personality’s voice or likeness in an expressive audiovisual work or sound recording without specified prior consent liable to any injured party in an amount equal to the greater of $10,000 or the actual damages suffered by a person controlling the rights to the deceased personality’s likeness, except as prescribed.
This bill would, subject to specified exceptions, require a person who creates or causes to be created an advertisement that uses
includes the image, audio, or video of a person representing themselves to be, or identifiably depicting a person as, digital replica or synthetic performer depicted as a health care provider that is generated or substantially altered using artificial intelligence or other computer technology to promote the sale of a health-related consumer product or service to include a clear and conspicuous disclosure that the image, audio, or video, as applicable, of the person in the advertisement was generated or substantially altered by artificial intelligence and that the person identifiably depicted is not a health care provider.
no human health care provider is depicted. The bill would also define terms for its purposes and would provide for factors that may be considered in determining whether a natural person is “identifiably depicted” in an electronic representation. purposes.
This bill would authorize the Attorney General, a district attorney, or a natural person identifiably depicted as a health care provider whose digital replica is used in an advertisement to bring a civil action to enforce these provisions, and would provide that a violation of the bill does not
constitute a misdemeanor.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 651.4 is added to the Business and Professions Code, to read:651.4.
(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:(1) “Artificial intelligence” means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.
(2) “Creates” includes causing a video or audio media to be created through prompts to a generative artificial intelligence system.
(3) “Digital replica” has the same meaning as in Section 3344.1 of the Civil Code.
(2)
(4) (A) “Generated or substantially altered using artificial intelligence or other computer technology” means when visual or audio media of a natural person is either of the following:
(i) Entirely created generated
using artificial intelligence or other computer technology and would appear to a reasonable person to be authentic.
(ii) Materially altered by artificial intelligence or other computer technology and that alteration would cause a reasonable person to have a fundamentally different understanding of the altered media when comparing it to an unaltered version.
(B) A visual or audio media of a natural person is not “generated or substantially altered using artificial intelligence or other computer technology” if the media is immaterially altered by artificial intelligence or other computer technology, including a cosmetic adjustment, color edit, cropped image, or resized image.
(3)
(5) “Health-related consumer product or service” means a product or service that is marketed for use primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, and is marketed as having a health benefit. Examples include, but are not limited to, dietary supplements and medical and dental goods and services.
(4)
(6) “Health care provider” means a person licensed under this division.
(5)“Identifiably depicted” means that the visual likeness or voice of a natural person within an electronic
representation is readily identifiable, even if the electronic representation is not identical to the natural person.
(6)
(7) “Natural person” means a natural human individual, and does not include a firm, partnership, association, corporation, limited liability company, or cooperative association.
(8) “Synthetic performer” means a humanlike digital figure, voice, or representation created in whole or in part using artificial intelligence, machine
learning, or computational techniques, and not based on, derived from, or intended to depict any particular identifiable natural person as described in Section 3344 of the Civil Code.
(b) An A person who creates or causes to be created an advertisement that uses includes the image, audio, or video of a natural person
representing themselves to be, or identifiably depicting a person as, digital replica or synthetic performer depicted as a health care provider that is generated or substantially altered using artificial intelligence or other computer technology to promote the sale of a health-related consumer product or service shall include a clear and conspicuous disclosure that the image, audio, or video, as applicable, of the person in the advertisement was generated or substantially altered by artificial intelligence and that the person identifiably depicted is not a health care provider, no human health care provider is depicted, and shall
comply with all of the following:
(1) For visual media, the text of the disclosure shall appear in a prominent location and in a size that is easily readable by the average viewer. For visual media that is video, that disclosure shall be displayed for the duration of the video.
(2) For audio-only media, the disclosure shall be read in a clearly spoken manner and in a pitch that can be easily heard by the average listener, at the beginning of the audio, at the end of the audio, and, if the audio is greater than two minutes in length, interspersed within the audio at intervals of not greater than two minutes each.
(c) Advertisements subject to this section shall comply with all other applicable state and federal
laws. This section does not abrogate, narrow, or otherwise limit any other applicable state or federal law, including, but not limited to, Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 17500) of Part 3 of Division 7. This section does not authorize use of a person’s likeness for commercial purposes without the individual’s consent.
(d) (1) The Attorney General or any district attorney may bring a civil action to enforce subdivision (b) and may seek any appropriate remedy, including, but not limited to, injunctive relief.
(2) A natural person identifiably depicted as a health care provider whose digital replica is used
in an advertisement that violates subdivision (b) may bring a civil action against the person who created the advertisement and may seek any appropriate remedy, including, but not limited to, injunctive relief.
(3) The remedies provided for under this paragraph are cumulative and shall be in addition to any other remedies provided for by law, including, but not limited to, Section 3344 of the Civil Code.
(4) A violation of this section shall not constitute a misdemeanor for purposes of this article.
(5) This section does not alter or negate any rights, obligations, or immunities of an interactive computer service provider under Section 230 of Title 47 of the United States Code.
(e) This section does not apply to an advertisement that uses the image, audio, or video of a person representing themselves to be, or depicting the person as, a digital replica depicted as a health care provider that is generated or substantially altered using artificial intelligence or other computer technology to promote the sale of a health-related consumer product or service if all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The natural person whose digital replica is used in the advertisement is a health care provider.
(1)The health care provider depicted
(2) The digital replica in the advertisement is an identifiably depicted natural person who is depicted as being licensed in the same professional practice as depicted in the advertisement. profession as the natural person.
(2)The identifiably depicted
(3) The natural person has provided prior consent to the use of their image digital replica in the advertisement.
(3)The identifiably depicted
(4) The natural person agrees with
all of the statements made in the advertisement by the image, audio, or video of themselves digital replica generated or substantially altered by artificial intelligence.
(f)For purposes of this section, factors that may be considered in determining whether a natural person is “identifiably depicted” in an electronic representation include whether the electronic representation identifies itself by the natural person’s name, whether the electronic representation uses any visual or auditory cues commonly associated with the natural person, and whether the advertisement featuring the electronic representation addresses a subject matter or health issue in which the natural person specializes.