California's AI Transparency Act (SB 942) Is Now in Effect: What Changes on August 2
California's AI Transparency Act (SB 942) took effect August 2, 2026, requiring provenance watermarks and free detection tools from major AI providers. Here's who's covered and what's next.
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California isn't alone this week
The EU's own transparency law landed on the same date. [The EU AI Act's Article 50 transparency rules also took effect August 2](https://questloops.com/blog/the-eu-ai-act-s-transparency-rules-just-went-live-what-article-50-actually-requires), requiring chatbots to disclose they're AI and deepfakes to carry a label, backed by penalties up to €15 million or 3% of global turnover. If you ship AI-generated content to both California and EU users, the two laws don't use the same technical mechanism, so plan for two separate compliance implementations, not one.