California Turns AI Creations into Covered Content with Digital Fingerprints

California is enacting a landmark law to embed invisible provenance data—digital fingerprints—into AI-generated images, videos, and audio. Starting Aug. 9, 2026, verification tools will let users check origins; by 2027, Big Tech must provide a way to surface AI-made content in feeds, and by 2028, devices made in California must store provenance at capture time, giving every photo a digital birth certificate. The goal is transparency amid AI deception and deepfakes, with alignment to the EU AI Act and platforms likely bearing the biggest impact, while debate continues over AI-generated political ads.