HB1603: HB1603 Georgia Entertainment Artificial Intelligence Accountability and Performer Protection Act; enact

This bill creates a new law, the Georgia Entertainment Artificial Intelligence Accountability and Performer Protection Act, inside Georgia's trade practices code (O.C.G.A. Title 10, Chapter 1). It responds to concerns that AI systems can now recreate a person's face, voice, or performance without their involvement. The bill bans publishing or distributing a 'digital replica' of a performer, meaning a highly realistic AI-generated or altered copy of their likeness, without their consent. It also bans making tools whose main purpose is to create such replicas without consent. Consent must come through a signed contract that lasts no more than 10 years, pays the performer fairly, and describes the intended use. Production companies using AI in Georgia productions must publish an annual public inventory of their AI systems starting December 31, 2027, and issue disclaimers about how AI was used. The Attorney General and performers themselves can sue violators. The law would take effect January 1, 2027.

• Creates a new article in Georgia's trade practices law banning the distribution of an AI-generated 'digital replica' of a performer without written consent.
• Bans making or distributing tools primarily designed to produce unauthorized digital replicas of specific performers.
• Requires consent for a digital replica to come through a signed contract lasting no more than 10 years that pays the performer fairly and describes the intended use.
• Requires production companies using AI in Georgia to publish an annual public inventory of their AI systems starting December 31, 2027.
• Requires production companies to issue disclaimers explaining how AI was adopted and what data or sources were used.
• Allows the Attorney General to enforce the law and gives performers a private right to sue for damages, injunctions, and attorney's fees.

Actors, voice actors, stunt performers, models, and other creative professionals whose likeness appears in film, television, streaming, gaming, or advertising; film and television production companies operating in Georgia; and the Attorney General's office, which gains new enforcement authority.

Performers would gain a legal tool to stop unauthorized AI recreations of their face, voice, or performance and to sue for damages if their likeness is used without a signed, compensated contract. Production companies would face new disclosure and consent obligations before using AI replicas in Georgia productions.

• Section 3 adds Article 38 to Chapter 1 of Title 10, defining key terms like 'artificial intelligence system,' 'consent,' 'digital replica,' and 'performer' (O.C.G.A. § 10-1-970).
• O.C.G.A. § 10-1-971 makes it unlawful to distribute a digital replica of a performer without consent or to make tools designed mainly to produce such replicas without consent.
• Consent contracts must be written, signed, provide fair compensation, ban perpetual unpaid use, and describe the intended use, and cannot last more than 10 years while the performer is alive.
• O.C.G.A. § 10-1-972 requires production companies using AI in Georgia to publish an annual public AI system inventory starting December 31, 2027, and to issue a disclaimer on how AI was used.
• O.C.G.A. § 10-1-973 lets the Attorney General enforce the article like the Fair Business Practices Act of 1975 and lets performers sue for actual damages, punitive damages, injunctions, and attorney's fees.
• Section 4 sets the effective date as January 1, 2027.

1. 2026-03-31House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-03-27House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-03-25House Hopper (House)

• Yasmin Neal (D, HD-079)Primary sponsor

• artificial intelligence regulation
• performer rights
• entertainment industry
• digital likeness
• consumer protection