Washington expands right of publicity to combat AI digital replicas

The law increases legal liability for streaming platforms and advertisers using generative AI, as Washington and Indiana now enforce right-of-publicity claims regardless of an individual's primary residence. This extraterritorial reach complicates the compliance landscape for national campaigns, forcing studios to audit AI workflows similarly to traditional talent licensing. The inclusion of mandatory noneconomic damages shifts the financial risk from a 'cost of doing business' to a potential litigation trap for de minimis or social media uses. Watch for a constitutional challenge regarding the state’s ability to regulate the likenesses of out-of-state or deceased individuals.

Washington’s SB 5886 is the latest addition to a fragmented regulatory landscape targeting artificial intelligence. Per JDSupra in April 2026, Washington joins approximately a dozen states—including California, New York, and Tennessee—that have updated personality rights specifically for the AI era. These state moves often precede or parallel federal efforts, such as the NO FAKES Act, which was reintroduced in the U.S. Senate in July 2024 to create a national property right for an individual's voice and likeness. While federal law aims to establish a consistent standard, the current 'patchwork' of state rules forces content creators to navigate varying definitions of what constitutes a 'digital replica.'

In California, two pivotal bills, AB 1836 and AB 2602, became fully enforceable in early 2026. According to Manatt in September 2024, AB 2602 specifically invalidates contract provisions that allow the use of digital replicas without informed consent, a direct response to 2023 labor negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and major studios. Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took parallel action at the federal level as early as February 2024 by declaring AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. This multi-layered enforcement strategy across state legislatures and federal agencies indicates that 'informed consent' is now the critical threshold for any commercial application of synthetic media.