New York · Assembly Bill · 2023–2024 Regular Session
AB—9054
New York Assembly Bill 9054 — An Act to amend the election law, in relation to prohibiting the depiction of any candidate for elected office which is created through generative artificial intelligence (the "Respect Electoral Audiovisual Legitimacy (REAL) Act")
Status ● Failed Effective N/A Passage Likelihood N/A

WHAT THIS BILL REGULATES · 1 REQUIREMENT TYPE

CP-01 DECEPTIVE & MANIPULATIVE AI CONDUCT
1 OBLIGATION CP-01.7

How Is This Bill Enforced

Enforcement Authority
Enforced under existing Election Law § 14-106 framework. No new private right of action created. Enforcement is by the New York State Board of Elections and district attorneys under existing election law enforcement mechanisms.
Private Right of Action
No private right of action. Enforcement is exclusive to the designated authority.
Penalties
The bill does not create new penalty provisions. Violations would be subject to existing penalties under Election Law § 14-106 and related election law enforcement provisions.

What This Bill Requires

Verbatim statutory text on the left; plain-language analysis and a per-section checklist on the right. Numbered markers cross-link to the matching checklist row.

Statutory Text
Analysis & Obligations
Election Law § 14-106(2-a)
Prohibition on AI-generated depictions in political communications
Publisher

(a) 1 No political communication covered by this section shall contain any realistic photo, video or audio depiction of a candidate, or person interacting with a candidate, containing original material created in whole or in part through the use of generative artificial intelligencegenerative artificial intelligence"generative artificial intelligence" shall mean any technology that engages in its own learning and decision-making to generate new data.Election Law § 14-106(2-a)(b).

(b) For the purpose of this subdivision, "generative artificial intelligencegenerative artificial intelligence"generative artificial intelligence" shall mean any technology that engages in its own learning and decision-making to generate new data.Election Law § 14-106(2-a)(b)" shall mean any technology that engages in its own learning and decision-making to generate new data.

This new subdivision adds a categorical prohibition to Election Law § 14-106, barring any political communication covered by that section from including a realistic photo, video, or audio depiction of a candidate — or a person interacting with a candidate — if the depiction was created in whole or in part using generative artificial intelligence. The prohibition is absolute: it does not distinguish between deceptive and non-deceptive uses, and no disclosure or labeling can satisfy the requirement.

The definition of generative AI is notably broad, encompassing "any technology that engages in its own learning and decision-making to generate new data," which could reach routine photo-editing tools with AI-assisted features, not only dedicated deepfake generators.

Compliance actions 1 item
1
No person may include in any political communication covered by Election Law § 14-106 a realistic photo, video, or audio depiction of a candidate — or a person interacting with a candidate — that was created in whole or in part using generative artificial intelligencegenerative artificial intelligence"generative artificial intelligence" shall mean any technology that engages in its own learning and decision-making to generate new data.Election Law § 14-106(2-a)(b).
CP-01.7
Section 1
Short title — REAL Act

This act shall be known and may be cited as the "respect electoral audiovisual legitimacy (REAL) act".

Establishes the short title of the act as the "Respect Electoral Audiovisual Legitimacy (REAL) Act." This section creates no compliance obligation.

Section 3
Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.

The act takes effect immediately upon enactment. This section creates no compliance obligation.

Passage Likelihood

Failed
Status Failed
Final action referred to election law

Legislative History

2024-02-05 referred to election law

Sources

Full Text ↗

Entry Last Reviewed

2026-05-16
AI generated