Judge blocks new California law barring distribution of election-related AI deepfakes

One of California's new AI laws, which aims to prevent AI deepfakes related to elections from spreading online, has been blocked a month before the US presidential elections. As TechCrunch and Reason report, Judge John Mendez has issued a preliminary injunction, preventing the state's attorney general from enforcing AB 2839. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed it into law, along with other bills focusing on AI, back in mid-September. "I just signed a bill to make this illegal in the state of California," he wrote. I just signed a bill to make this illegal in the state of California.