Transparency Coalition, Adobe speak out for AI transparency bill in Virginia
Virginia Del. Michelle Lopes Maldonado speaks on behalf of HB 2121, her AI disclosure bill, in the House of Delegates earlier today.
Jan. 22, 2025 — Transparency Coalition (TCAI) co-founder Jai Jaisimha spoke out in favor of transparency in artificial intelligence systems earlier today in Virginia, where the state legislature considered a bill requiring the presence of disclosure tools within AI-created or modified content.
HB 1221, one of four AI-related bills introduced earlier this month by Delegate Michelle Lopes Maldonado, was taken up for consideration by the Virginia House of Delegates Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation.
Providing ai detection tools for virginians
HB 2121, known as the Digital Content Authenticity and Transparency Act, would require AI developers to apply provenance data to digital content that is generated by the AI system or service. It would also required developers to make a provenance application tool and a provenance reader available to the public. The bill would hold AI developers to standards very similar to those established last year in SB 942, California’s AI Transparency Act.
“In a world where consumers more often than not can’t tell if a particular piece of content is real or manipulated by AI, HB 2121 will make things a lot clearer without interfering with the consumer experience,” Jaisimha testified before the subcommittee.
Jaisimha joined bill sponsor Maldonado and Adobe official Nick Gatz in advocating for the bill.
“This bill helps us address what many of us have been struggling with around content transparency and authenticity,” Del. Maldonado told her colleagues on the committee. “All we’re doing here is asking that we look at ‘content provenance.’ That means the history of the content. It goes directly to the transparency of information.”
adobe leads on ai disclosure
Adobe, one of the world’s leading creative design platforms, has emerged as a leader in efforts around AI disclosure. The company was a founding member of the Content Authenticity Initiative and has embedded the Content Credentials tool in its AI systems.
Nick Gatz, state government relations manager for Adobe, spoke out in favor of the bills, noting that the company especially supports HB 2121’s “provision on retaining provenance data.” That is, the bill would require provenance information to move with an AI-created or AI-modified piece of content as the content moves from platform to platform.
hand-in-hand with innovation
“These are not heavy-handed requirements, nor will they inhibit business innovation,” commented TCAI’s Jaisimha.
“Adobe, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, OpenAI, Google and others have already developed and agreed on standards that are compliant with this bill. The requirements within the bill are consistent with proven, reliable technologies that already have significant industry support.”
Following the hearing, the technology subcommittee moved the bill to the General Assembly’s Joint Commission on Technology and Science (JCOTS) for further study and revision.
