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NY Laws Requires Disclosure of AI Actors in Ads, Limit Use of Person’s Image After Death

By  |  December 12, 2025

On the same day President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at preempting state laws that regulate AI, New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) signed two bills to regulate the use of AI. The first law requires advertisers to “conspicuously disclosure” when an AI-generated “synthetic” performer is used in an ad. The second requires anyone seeking to make commercial use of a digitally recreated image of a person after their death to first get permission from the person’s heirs or executors.

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    “I’ve been proud to stand as you strike and say, ‘What about us? What about the human face? What about the flesh and blood people who are the creators of this?’” Hochul said at a news conference at SAG-AFTRA’s New York headquarters per Deadline. “And it’s at a time when we do want to embrace innovation. We really do. It’s who we are as New Yorkers. It’s what makes us so fabulous and so great. But not to the detriment of people. That has to be the dividing line.”

    California and Tennessee have also enacted laws regulating the posthumous use of a person’s image by AI.

    “By mandating transparency and securing consent, New York has drawn a bright line that puts human creativity, integrity and trust first,” SAG-AFTRA executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said. “This is smart, forward-looking legislation that will have national impact.”

    SAG-AFTRA has lobbied for similar legislation at the state and local levels and made the use of AI-generated performers a central issue in 2023’s four-month strike against film and television studios.

    Read more: Big Law Expands Artificial Intelligence Roles to Stay Competitive

    Both New York laws contain significant carveouts intended to allay possible First Amendments concerns, Variety reported. The advertising disclosure bill makes an exception for advertisements for movies and TV shows that feature synthetic performers. The non-posthumous-use law allows the non-consensual use of digital replicas in fictional and non-fictional entertainment, docudramas, news programming, satire, and similar types of programs.

    Film and television production “remains an integral part of New York’s economy, and that is why New York will continue to lead in protecting the workers who power this industry,” State Senator Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) said. Gianaris authored the advertising disclosure bill “I want to thank Governor Hochul for signing my legislation that will protect workers from having their likenesses deceptively replaced by artificial intelligence, and will hold companies accountable for improperly using these tools,” he added.

    The New York laws come as the Trump administration has significantly ramped up pressure to undo or override state laws and regulations it views as impeding AI innovation and development. The order Trump signed Thursday, titled “Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence,” calls on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to consider creating a federal reporting and disclosure standard that would preempt state disclosure laws.

    The order also directs the Justice Depart to create an AI Litigation Task Force within 30 days to challenge state laws in court that deviate from the White House’s AI policy agenda. It also directs the Commerce Department to compile a list of “onerous” state AI laws within 90 days, including those that impose disclosure requirements that it believes conflict with constitutional protections.