New York is drawing a hard line in the sand when it comes to AI and transparency in media. If you are a brand running ads in the Empire State, you can no longer quietly replace human talent with digital clones.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has officially signed a first-of-its-kind law making it illegal for advertisements to feature AI-generated people in place of real actors unless they explicitly label that a “synthetic performer” was used.

The first-in-the-nation legislation aims to protect consumer trust, defend the livelihoods of working actors, and establish a clear boundary between human creativity and digital duplication.

As AI video generation and deepfake technology have rapidly advanced, brands have increasingly experimented with creating hyper-realistic, completely artificial human beings for commercial use. To the average consumer scrolling through social media or watching television, these digital entities are virtually indistinguishable from real people.

Under the new New York state law, any digitally created or modified human likeness used in a commercial capacity is classified as a synthetic performer.

Moving forward, any advertisement distributed or broadcast within the state that utilizes these AI creations must feature a clear, conspicuous disclosure. If a consumer is looking at a model or spokesperson on screen, they have a legal right to know whether that person actually exists or if they were rendered by an algorithm.

The push for this legislation stems from two major concerns: deceptive marketing practices and the economic displacement of the creative workforce.

From a consumer standpoint, the law protects everyday citizens from being misled by artificial personas pushing products, political messages, or lifestyle standards that aren’t grounded in reality.

More importantly, the law serves as a vital shield for the entertainment and advertising workforce. Following massive Hollywood union strikes that heavily centered on digital replication rights, New York’s new law provides concrete legal guardrails for local actors, voiceover artists, and models. By forcing companies to label AI talent, the state is disincentivizing the seamless, secret replacement of human workers with cost-cutting algorithmic models.

“As artificial intelligence evolves, we must ensure it is used responsibly and transparently,” state officials noted during the announcement. “New Yorkers deserve to know when they are interacting with real human talent and when they are looking at a computer-generated likeness.”

Failing to include the required “synthetic performer” disclosure will now constitute a direct violation of New York state law, leaving brands vulnerable to hefty fines, legal penalties, and the public relations nightmare of being flagged for deceptive advertising.

While the law does not ban the use of AI in commercials altogether, it strips away the illusion. It forces the industry into a new era of transparency, one where the human element in storytelling is legally protected, and the digital element is clearly stamped for all to see.