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Measure

AB 410

Authors

Wilson
Coauthors: Bonta

Subject

Bots: disclosure.

Relating To

relating to bots.

Title

An act to amend Sections 17940, 17941, and 17942 of, and to repeal and add Section 17943 of, the Business and Professions Code, relating to bots.

Last Action Dt

2025-04-03

State

Amended Assembly

Status

In Committee Process

Active?

Vote Required

Majority

Appropriation

Fiscal Committee

Yes

Local Program

Substantive Changes

None

Urgency

Tax Levy

Leginfo Link

Bill

Actions

2025-08-29		In committee: Held under submission.
2025-08-18		In committee: Referred to suspense file.
2025-07-16		From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (July 15). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
2025-06-18		Referred to Com. on JUD.
2025-06-04		In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
2025-06-03		Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 2. Page 1971.)
2025-05-27		Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
2025-05-23		From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (May 23).
2025-04-09		In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.
2025-04-07		Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
2025-04-03		Read second time and amended.
2025-04-02		From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 12. Noes 1.) (April 1).
2025-03-25		Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P.
2025-03-24		From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. Read second time and amended.
2025-03-11		In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
2025-02-18		Referred to Com. on P. & C.P.
2025-02-05		From printer. May be heard in committee March 7.
2025-02-04		Read first time. To print.

Keywords

Tags

Versions

Amended Assembly		2025-04-03
Amended Assembly		2025-03-24
Introduced		2025-02-04

Last Version Text

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		<ns0:Title>An act to amend Sections 17940, 17941, and 17942 of, and to repeal and add Section 17943 of, the Business and Professions Code, relating to bots.</ns0:Title>
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			<ns0:Subject>Bots: disclosure.</ns0:Subject>
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			<html:p>Existing law makes it unlawful for any person to use a bot to communicate or interact with another person in this state online with the intent to mislead the other person about its artificial identity for the purposes of knowingly deceiving the person about the content of the communication in order to incentivize a purchase or sale of goods or services in a commercial transaction or to influence a vote in an election, unless the person using the bot discloses that it is a bot. Existing law defines a “bot” as an automated online account where all or substantially all of the actions or posts of that account are not the result of a person.</html:p>
			<html:p>This bill would require a person who uses a bot
			 to autonomously communicate with another to ensure that the bot discloses to any person with whom the bot communicates when the bot first communicates with the person that the bot is a bot and not a human being, answers truthfully any query from a person regarding its identity as a bot or a human, and
			 refrains from attempting to mislead a person regarding its identity as a bot. The bill would redefine “bot” to mean an automated online account or application that a reasonable person could believe is a human being and with respect to which substantially all of the actions or posts of that account or application are the outputs of generative artificial intelligence, as defined. The bill would exempt from its provisions a person who uses a bot
			 that is required to comply with a more prescriptive disclosure scheme.</html:p>
			<html:p>This bill would authorize the Attorney General, a district attorney, a county counsel, a city attorney, or a city prosecutor to bring a civil action to punish noncompliance, as prescribed.</html:p>
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		<ns0:Preamble>The people of the State of California do enact as follows:</ns0:Preamble>
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			<ns0:Num>SECTION 1.</ns0:Num>
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				Section 17940 of the 
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				 is amended to read:
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							<html:p>For purposes of this chapter:</html:p>
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								(a)
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								“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. 
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								(b)
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								“Bot” means an automated online account or application that a reasonable person could believe is a human being and with respect to which substantially all of the actions or posts of that account or application
						are the outputs of generative artificial intelligence.
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								(c)
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								“Generative artificial intelligence” means artificial intelligence that can generate derived synthetic content, including text, images, video, and audio that emulates the structure and characteristics of the system’s training data.
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								(d)
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								“Online” means appearing on any public-facing internet website, web application, or
						digital application, including a social network or publication.
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								(e)
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								“Person” means a natural person, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture, association, estate, trust, government, governmental subdivision or agency, or other legal entity or any combination thereof.
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				Section 17941 of the 
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								(a)
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								It shall be unlawful for any person to use a bot to communicate or interact with another person in California online, with the intent to mislead the other person about its artificial identity for the purpose of knowingly deceiving the person about the content of the communication in order to incentivize a purchase or sale of goods or services in a commercial transaction or to influence a vote in an election. A person using a bot shall not be liable under this section if the person discloses that it is a bot.
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								(b)
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								A person who uses a
						bot to autonomously communicate with another shall ensure that the bot does all of the following:
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								(1)
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								Discloses to any person with whom the bot communicates when the bot first communicates with the person that the bot is a bot and not a human being.
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								(2)
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								Answers truthfully any subsequent query from a person regarding its identity as a bot or a human.
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								(3)
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								Refrains from
						attempting to mislead a person regarding its identity as a bot.
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								(c)
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								The disclosure required by this section shall be clear, conspicuous, and reasonably designed to inform persons with whom the bot communicates or interacts that it is a bot.
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								(d)
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								If a person who uses a bot is required by another law to comply with a more prescriptive disclosure scheme than this chapter, the person is not required to comply with this chapter.
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				Section 17942 of the 
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				 is amended to read:
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								(a)
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								The duties and obligations imposed by this chapter are cumulative with any other duties or obligation imposed by any other law.
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								(b)
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								The provisions of this chapter are severable. If any provision of this chapter or its application is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.
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				Section 17943 of the 
				<ns0:DocName>Business and Professions Code</ns0:DocName>
				 is repealed.
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				Section 17943 is added to the 
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				, to read:
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							<html:p>The Attorney General, a district attorney, a county counsel, a city attorney, or a city prosecutor may bring an action against a person who violates this chapter to obtain either of the following relief:</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(a)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								Injunctive relief.
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								(b)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								A civil penalty of one thousand dollars ($1,000) per violation.
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Last Version Text Digest

Existing law makes it unlawful for any person to use a bot to communicate or interact with another person in this state online with the intent to mislead the other person about its artificial identity for the purposes of knowingly deceiving the person about the content of the communication in order to incentivize a purchase or sale of goods or services in a commercial transaction or to influence a vote in an election, unless the person using the bot discloses that it is a bot. Existing law defines a “bot” as an automated online account where all or substantially all of the actions or posts of that account are not the result of a person. This bill would require a person who uses a bot to autonomously communicate with another to ensure that the bot discloses to any person with whom the bot communicates when the bot first communicates with the person that the bot is a bot and not a human being, answers truthfully any query from a person regarding its identity as a bot or a human, and refrains from attempting to mislead a person regarding its identity as a bot. The bill would redefine “bot” to mean an automated online account or application that a reasonable person could believe is a human being and with respect to which substantially all of the actions or posts of that account or application are the outputs of generative artificial intelligence, as defined. The bill would exempt from its provisions a person who uses a bot that is required to comply with a more prescriptive disclosure scheme. This bill would authorize the Attorney General, a district attorney, a county counsel, a city attorney, or a city prosecutor to bring a civil action to punish noncompliance, as prescribed.