Industry opposition kills California AI impact assessment, watermark bills

Heavy industry opposition has led to the death of two high-profile California artificial intelligence bills -- one that would have set new impact assessment requirements for developers and deployers, and the other targeting manufacturers of recording devices, providers of AI content generators and online platforms to control the spread of deceptive or misleading media through broad provenance tracking requirements.

The bills -- AB 2930 and AB 3211 -- were “ordered to the inactive file” on Aug. 31, the last day...