California Assembly Bill 1831 (2024)

• Authority: California
• Parent authority: State governments
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. state and local documents
• Most recent activity: Enacted
• Most recent activity date: 2024-09-29

Risk subdomain coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the risk subdomain are explicitly described.

• Exposure to toxic content
• Cyberattacks, weapon development or use
• Fraud, scams, and targeted manipulation

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• Compromise of privacy
• Governance failure
• AI possessing dangerous capabilities

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document has good coverage of approximately 3-4 subdomains, with strong focus on malicious actors (4.2, 4.3), exposure to toxic content (1.2), and privacy compromise (2.1). Coverage is concentrated in preventing AI-generated CSAM and protecting children from exploitation through technological means.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• Information
• Public Administration (excl. National Security)

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Scientific Research & Development Services
• Educational Services
• Health Care & Social Assistance
• Arts, Entertainment & Recreation

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document primarily governs the Information sector (internet websites, online services, digital content platforms) and has enforcement implications for Public Administration (law enforcement, courts, prosecuting agencies). It does not target specific economic sectors but rather regulates specific harmful uses of AI technology across any sector.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding California state statute (Assembly Bill) that amends the Penal Code with mandatory criminal prohibitions, specific felony and misdemeanor penalties, fines, and imprisonment terms for violations related to AI-generated CSAM.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: California State Legislature; The people of the State of California
• Summary: The document is a California Assembly Bill enacted by the state legislature, as indicated by the opening phrase 'The people of the State of California do enact as follows' and references to 'The Legislature' throughout the findings.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Developer, AI_Deployer, AI_User
• Entities: Internet websites offering AI CSAM creation services; persons who create, distribute, possess, or exhibit AI-generated CSAM
• Summary: The bill targets any person who creates, distributes, possesses, or exhibits AI-generated CSAM, including developers of AI systems that generate such content and users who possess or distribute it. The document explicitly mentions 'Internet websites available to the public offer services that will create artificial CSAM.'

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: California courts; law enforcement agencies; prosecuting agencies
• Summary: The document establishes criminal penalties enforced through the California criminal justice system, with explicit references to law enforcement and prosecuting agencies having authority to investigate and prosecute violations.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: California courts; law enforcement agencies
• Summary: While not explicitly establishing new monitoring bodies, the document implies ongoing monitoring through the criminal justice system's investigation and prosecution functions, with courts determining compliance and imposing penalties.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Collect and Process Data
• Build and Use Model
• Deploy

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document primarily addresses the deployment and use of AI systems for generating CSAM, with implicit coverage of the build/model development stage through references to training data. It does not substantially cover planning, data collection processes, verification, or operational monitoring stages.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

• AI Models
• Generative AI

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly mentions artificial intelligence and AI-generated content, focusing on generative AI capabilities. It does not reference AI models, AI systems, frontier AI, general purpose AI, foundation models, or compute thresholds. The focus is on the output (AI-generated CSAM) rather than technical AI system classifications.