TCAI’s Top Five: California AI bills to watch right now
Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash.
As some states bring their 2025 legislative sessions to a close—Virginia’s already gone home—California is just getting started. The action in Sacramento heats up in March, when committee hearings begin, and runs through this year’s scheduled final day of Sept. 12.
Feb. 21 was the last day for bills to be introduced, so we now have a fuller idea of the AI-related proposals circulating in both houses. There were a handful of placeholder bills filed, so don’t be surprised to see one or two more AI measures emerge in the coming weeks as those blank-slate bills get filled in.
Our Transparency Coalition Bill Tracker is keeping tabs on 33 AI bills, and here at TCAI headquarters we’re keeping a sharp eye on the five most promising measures.
Here’s what we’re seeing in Sacramento currently:
1. AB 412: The AI copyright transparency act
California Assm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan’s AI Copyright Transparency Act is one of the nation’s most important AI transparency and intellectual property protection bills. It’s TCAI’s top-priority bill in Sacramento this year.
AB 412 is aimed at increasing transparency around the use of copyrighted materials to train generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) systems and models.
The proposed legislation requires GenAI developers to inform copyright owners when their materials are included in GenAI training datasets. It also includes one of the first requirements for developers to install a Training Data Verification Request (TDVR) tool, which would allow individuals to query the developer to find out if specific intellectual property was used to train a certain AI model. TCAI has called for the adoption of TDVRs and accompanying Training Data Deletion Request (TDDR) tools as a required industry standard.
We have fuller coverage of the bill here.
2. AB 1064: The LEAD for KIDS act
AB 1064, the Leading Ethical AI Development (LEAD) for Kids Act, is also authored by Assm. Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda). It offers a new approach to protecting children from harmful interactions with artificial intelligence.
The proposal would create a new AI standards board within the state’s Government Operations Agency, and charge its members with evaluating and regulating AI technologies for children. It would also impose a series of checks and balances—with an emphasis on transparency and privacy protections—to ensure only the safest AI tools make it into the hands of children.
We have fuller coverage of the bill here, and the bill’s full text can be found here.
3. AB 853: detection tools for gen ai systems
This measure, authored by Assm. Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), updates the 2024 California AI Transparency Act to require Gen AI developers to make an AI detection tool publicly available. The tool would allow a user to assess whether image, video, or audio content, or content that is a combination thereof, was created or altered by the developer’s generative artificial intelligence system. The tool would be required by developers whose Gen AI system has at least 1 million monthly visitors or users and is accessible within California.
4. SB 468: cybersecurity: protecting personal information
Sen. Josh Becker (D-San Mateo), author of last year’s historic California AI Transparency Act, is bringing forward this measure to create a clear duty to protect consumer data in AI systems. The bill establishes new requirements for businesses that deploy high-risk artificial intelligence (AI) systems processing personal information.
More specifically, covered deployers must develop, implement, and maintain a detailed information security program with extensive safeguards tailored to their business size, resources, and data volume. The program must include multiple layers of protection, such as designating employee security managers, conducting risk assessments, providing ongoing employee training, implementing access controls, encrypting sensitive data, using secure authentication protocols, monitoring systems for unauthorized access, and maintaining current cybersecurity protections.
5. AB 1405: establishing standards for ai auditors
This bill establishes a comprehensive framework for regulating Artificial Intelligence (AI) auditors in California, requiring the state Government Operations Agency to create an enrollment mechanism by January 1, 2027.
AB 1405, authored by Assm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, helps establish standards and protocols for AI auditors, who are third-party persons or firms that act as independent assessors of AI systems. AI auditors act much like third-party accounting firms, offering objective confirmations of an AI developer’s compliance with legal requirements.
Enrolled AI auditors will be required to conduct covered audits according to industry best practices, providing auditees with comprehensive audit reports that outline audit results, steps to meet industry standards, and paths to legal compliance. The legislation includes strict ethical guidelines, prohibiting auditors from accepting employment with an auditee for 12 months after an audit, limiting confidential information disclosure, and protecting whistleblowers who report potential misconduct.
Additionally, the bill creates an AI Auditors' Enrollment Fund within the State Treasury to support the administrative costs of this new regulatory system, with the goal of ensuring transparency, accountability, and professional standards in AI system assessments. The bill defines key terms like "artificial intelligence" and "covered audit" and establishes a mechanism for reporting misconduct by enrolled AI auditors.
more bills worth noting
We’re also keeping a few other proposals in mind:
AB 222: Data Center Energy Usage. This bill would require AI developers to post information about the energy required to train a new AI system.
AB 316: Limitation of Liability Defense in AI. This bill would prohibit a defendant that developed or used artificial intelligence from asserting a defense that the artificial intelligence autonomously caused the harm to the plaintiff.
SB 53: AI Safety and Cal Compute. Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), author of last year’s controversial SB 1047, returns with a bill aimed at AI safety and the establishment of Cal Compute, a public cloud computing cluster.
full list of all 2025 ai-related bills in california
All 2025 AI-related bills filed in Sacramento are shown below.
