Judge blocks new California artificial intelligence law over Kamala Harris deepfake

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked considered one of California’s new artificial intelligence laws, lower than two weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it. Shortly after AB 2839 was signed into law, Newsom suggested it is likely to be something we would get used to force Elon Musk to take down Vice President Kamala Harris’s fake AI that he reposted (invoking a little web battle between them). But a California judge just ruled that the state cannot force people to remove fraudulent elections — not less than not yet.

AB 2839 targets distributors of faux AI content on social media, especially if their post resembles a politician and the sender knows it’s fake and will confuse voters. The law is exclusive in that it doesn’t goal the platforms where AI deepfakes appear, but relatively those that spread them. AB 2839 empowers California judges to order posters depicting AI deepfakes to be removed or face fines.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the unique poster of this AI deepfake – an X user named Christopher Kohls – filed a lawsuit to dam the new California law as unconstitutional only a day after it was signed into law. Kohls’ lawyer wrote in: criticism that Kamala Harris’s hoax is satire that must be protected by the First Amendment.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge John Mendez sided with Kohls. Mendez ordered a preliminary injunction to dam the California attorney general from enforcing the new law against Kohls or anyone else, aside from the audio messages covered by AB 2839.

Read for yourself what Judge Mendez said his decision: :

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In essence, he ruled that the law was just too broad as written and will end in serious overreach by state authorities about what’s and will not be permitted.

Since it is a preliminary injunction, we’ll should wait and see if this California law is definitely blocked permanently, but either way it’s unlikely to have a significant impact on next month’s elections. AB 2839 is considered one of 18 new artificial intelligence bills that Newsom signed into law last month.

Nevertheless, it is a major victory for Elon Musk’s camp of free speech posters on X. In the times after Newsom signed AB 2839, Musk and his usual allies released AI deepfakes series who tested California’s new law.