Two new laws restricting the creation and distribution of so-called “deepfake” videos – Assembly Bills 602 and 730 – will become effective on January 1, 2020. Deepfakes are the result of technology employing “deep learning” artificial intelligence to create hyper-realistic, doctored video content without the consent of those being portrayed. These two measures arrive amid a dramatic proliferation of deepfake videos on the internet. One cybersecurity firm detected an 84% increase in the number of deepfake videos on the internet between December 2018 and July 2019. The technology has been widely used to create sexually explicit depictions of celebrities, as well as altered videos of politicians and other public figures.

Originally published in The Daily Journal on January 8, 2020.