OpenAI Supports California Bill Requiring ‘Watermarking’ of AI Content

ChatGPT developer OpenAI is backing a California bill that would require tech companies to label AI-generated content, ranging from harmless memes to deepfakes intended to spread misinformation about political candidates.

The bill, called AB 3211, has so far been overshadowed by attention for another California state bill on artificial intelligence (AI), SB 1047, which requires AI developers to conduct safety tests on some of their own models.

The bill has faced opposition from the tech sector, including Microsoft-backed OpenAI.

California lawmakers attempted to introduce 65 AI-related bills this legislative season, according to the state’s legislative database, including measures to ensure that all algorithmic decisions are impartial and to protect the intellectual property of deceased individuals from exploitation by AI companies. Many of the bills are already dead.

San Francisco-based OpenAI believes that transparency and provenance requirements like watermarking are important for AI-generated content, especially in an election year, according to a letter to California State Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, who authored the bill.

This year, elections will be held in countries that are home to a third of the world’s population. Experts are concerned about the role that AI-generated content will play. In some elections, such as Indonesia, AI has already been prominent.

“New technology and standards can help people understand the origins of the content they find online and avoid confusion between human-generated and photorealistic AI-generated content,” Jason Kwon, OpenAI’s chief strategy officer, wrote in the letter, seen by Reuters.

AB 3211 has already passed the state Assembly on a 62-0 vote. Earlier this month, it was approved by the Senate Budget Committee, readying it for a vote by the full state Senate. If it passes before the end of the legislative session on Aug. 31, it would be up to Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign or veto it by Sept. 30.

© Thomson Reuters 2024

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)