OpenAI, Adobe, and Microsoft have backed a bill in California that would require tech companies to label AI-generated content, according to letters from the companies reviewed by TechCrunch. The bill is headed for a final vote in August.
AB3211 requires watermarks in the metadata of AI-generated photos, videos, and audio clips. Many AI companies already do this, but most people don’t read the metadata. AB 3211 also requires enormous online platforms like Instagram or X to mark AI-generated content in a way that average viewers can understand.
OpenAI, Adobe, and Microsoft are part of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, which helped create C2PA metadata, a widely used standard for labeling AI-generated content.
A trade group previously representing Adobe, Microsoft and the country’s largest software producers opposed the bill AB 3211 in Aprilcalling the bill “unworkable” and “overly burdensome” in a letter to California lawmakers. But amendments to the bill appear to have changed their minds.