Bill Text: NJ A5089 | 2026-2027 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: "AI Image Disclosure Act"; concerns disclosure of certain AI-generated content.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced) 2026-05-14 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee [A5089 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2026-A5089-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ANDREW MACURDY
District 21 (Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and Union)
SYNOPSIS
"AI Image Disclosure Act"; concerns disclosure of certain AI-generated content.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning generative artificial intelligence and supplementing Title 56 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "AI Image Disclosure Act."
2. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
"Artificial intelligence-generated content" or "AI-generated content" means an image, a video, or audio content, or any combination thereof, that is created or altered using a generative artificial intelligence system.
"Covered provider" means a sole proprietorship, a limited liability company, a corporation, an association, or any other legal entity that creates, codes, or otherwise produces a GenAI system that is publicly accessible within the geographic boundaries of this State and excludes any product, service, Internet website, or application that provides exclusively non-user-generated video game, television, streaming, movie, or interactive experiences.
"Covered social media company" means a person or entity that provides or operates a social media platform with at least five million account holders worldwide.
"Generative artificial intelligence system" or "GenAI system" means a technology system that is trained on data and can generate derived synthetic content, including text, images, video, and audio, that emulates the structure and characteristics of the system's training data.
"Licensee" means a sole proprietorship, a limited liability company, a corporation, an association, or any other legal entity that licenses a GenAI system from a covered provider.
"Metadata" means structured reference data that helps to sort and identify attributes of the information it describes.
"Personal data" has the same meaning as defined in section 1 of P.L.2023, c.266 (C.56:8-166.4).
"Provenance data" means data that provides a historical record of content that details the content's origins by capturing the content's metadata.
"Social media platform" means a public or semi-public Internet-based service or application that has account holders in this State, which service or application: allows account holders to construct a public or semi-public profile for the purposes of using the platform, populate a list of other account holders with whom the account holder shares a social connection through the platform, and post content viewable by other account holders or users of the platform; and is designed to connect account holders within the platform to facilitate social interactions, except that a service or application that provides e-mail or direct messaging services shall not be considered to meet this criterion solely based on the existence of that functionality. "Social media platform" shall not include a service or application that consists primarily of news, sports, entertainment, e-commerce, or other content that is not user-generated but is preselected by the provider and for which any chat, comments, or interactive functionality is incidental to, directly related to, or dependent on the provision of the content, or "news media" as defined in section 2 of P.L.1977, c.253 (C.2A:84A-21a).
3. a. A covered provider shall include a manifest disclosure in any AI-generated content. A manifest disclosure required pursuant to this subsection shall:
(1) identify the content as AI-generated content;
(2) be clear, conspicuous, appropriate for the medium of the content, and understandable to a reasonable person; and
(3) be permanent or extraordinarily difficult to remove, to the extent technically feasible.
b. A covered provider shall include a latent disclosure in any AI-generated content. A latent disclosure required pursuant to this subsection shall:
(1) not be visible or audible;
(2) convey, either directly or through a link to a permanent Internet website:
(a) the name of the covered provider;
(b) the name and version of the GenAI system that created or altered the content; and
(c) the time and date of the content's creation or alteration;
(3) be permanent or extraordinarily difficult to remove, to the extent technically feasible;
(4) be compliant or interoperable with widely accepted industry standards; and
(5) be easily accessible. A covered provider shall ensure that a latent disclosure is easily accessible by publishing on the covered provider's Internet website instructions on how to access the disclosure, and, if necessary, by publishing a free Internet website or application that can extract and display the disclosure from the content.
c. (1) A covered provider's licensing agreement with a licensee shall require the licensee to maintain the GenAI system's capability to include a latent disclosure as required by subsection b. of this section.
(2) A licensee shall not remove or prevent the GenAI system from including a latent disclosure as required by subsection b. of this section.
(3) If the covered provider has actual knowledge that a licensee has violated paragraph (2) of this subsection, the covered provider shall revoke the licensing agreement with the licensee within 96 hours of obtaining actual knowledge. The licensee shall immediately cease using a licensed GenAI system upon revocation of the licensing agreement.
d. A covered provider shall provide users of the covered provider's GenAI system the option to include in the latent disclosure personal data about the user, only if the user expressly consents after being presented with a clear and conspicuous notice that informs the user that the personal information:
(1) will be easily accessible to anyone who views the content containing the latent disclosure;
(2) will become part of the content's permanent digital footprint; and
(3) cannot be retracted from content already in circulation.
e. (1) A covered provider that violates the provisions of this section shall be liable for a civil penalty in the amount of $5,000 for each violation, which penalty shall be collected by the Attorney General in a summary proceeding before a court of competent jurisdiction pursuant to the provisions of the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.).
(2) The Attorney General may bring a civil action for injunctive relief against a licensee who violates the provisions of this section or any rules, regulations, or orders promulgated thereunder.
(3) Each day that a covered provider or licensee is in violation of the provisions of this section shall be deemed a separate violation.
(4) A prevailing plaintiff in an action brought pursuant to this subsection shall be entitled to all reasonable attorney's costs and fees.
4. a. It shall be unlawful to make available in this State a system, application, tool, or service that is designed for the primary purpose of:
(1) removing or editing latent disclosures applied pursuant to section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill); or
(2) adding a latent disclosure to content that was not created or altered using a GenAI system.
b. An individual or entity that violates subsection a. of this section shall be liable for a civil penalty in the amount of $5,000 for each violation, which penalty shall be collected by the Attorney General in a summary proceeding before a court of competent jurisdiction pursuant to the provisions of the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.).
5. a. A covered social media company shall use a label to disclose any machine-readable provenance data detected in content distributed on the covered social media company's social media platform that indicates whether the content was created or altered using a general artificial intelligence system.
b. A covered social media company shall not:
(1) delete or otherwise remove any provenance data or digital signature from content uploaded or distributed on the covered social media company's social media platform; or
(2) retain any personal data acquired through provenance data from content shared on the covered social media company's social media platform.
c. A covered social media company that violates subsection a. of this section shall be liable for a civil penalty in the amount of $5,000 for each violation, which penalty shall be collected by the Attorney General in a summary proceeding before a court of competent jurisdiction pursuant to the provisions of the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.).
6. The Attorney General may adopt, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), rules and regulations as may be necessary to implement the provisions of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
7. This act shall take effect on February 1 of the calendar year next following the date of enactment. Section 3 of this act shall apply to licensing agreements entered into on or after the effective date of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill, designated the "AI Image Disclosure Act," requires a covered provider to include a manifest disclosure and a latent disclosure in any image, video, or audio content, or in any combination thereof, created or altered by the covered provider's generative artificial intelligence system (GenAI system).
Under the bill, a manifest disclosure is required to: (1) identify the content as AI-generated content; (2) be clear, conspicuous, appropriate for the medium of the content, and understandable to a reasonable person; and (3) be permanent or extraordinarily difficult to remove, to the extent technically feasible. A latent disclosure is required to: (1) not be visible or audible; (2) convey the name of the covered provider, name and version of the GenAI system that created or altered the content, the time and date of the content's creation or alteration; (3) be permanent or extraordinarily difficult to remove, to the extent technically feasible; (4) be compliant or interoperable with widely accepted industry standards; and (5) be easily accessible.
The bill also requires covered providers that license a GenAI system to a third party (licensee) to: (1) require the licensee, by licensing agreement, to maintain the GenAI system's capability to include a latent disclosure; and (2) prohibit the licensee from preventing a licensed GenAI system from including a latent disclosure. Under the bill, a covered provider is required to revoke the licensing agreement with the licensee within 96 hours of obtaining actual knowledge that the licensee prevented the GenAI system from including a latent disclosure. The bill requires the licensee to immediately cease using a licensed GenAI system upon revocation of the licensing agreement. Additionally, the bill requires a covered provider to give users the option to include personal data about the user, but only if the user expressly consents after being presented with a clear and conspicuous notice that informs the user that the personal information will be easily accessible to any viewer and the information will become part of the file's permanent digital footprint and cannot be retracted from copies already in circulation.
The bill also requires a covered social media company, as that term is defined in the bill, to use a label to disclose any machine-readable provenance data, as that term is defined in the bill, detected in content distributed on the covered social media company's social media platform that identifies the content as AI-generated. Under the bill, a covered social media company is prohibited from deleting or otherwise removing any provenance data or digital signature from content uploaded or distributed on the covered social media company's social media platform or retaining any personal data acquired through provenance data from content shared on the covered social media company's social media platform.
The bill also prohibits making available in this State a system, application, tool, or service that is designed for the primary purpose of removing or editing latent disclosures or adding a latent disclosure to content that was not created or altered using a GenAI system. The bill also provides certain penalties for entities that violate certain provisions of the bill.
