New York has moved to tighten transparency around artificial intelligence in advertising and to extend posthumous publicity protections, enacting two laws that industry lawyers say will have immediate operational consequences for colleges, cultural institutions and commercial media producers. According to the governor’s office, S.8420-A/A.8887-B compels advertisers to disclose when promotional material includes “synthetic performers,” defined as digitally created media that appear as real people, while S.8391/A.8882 requires consent from heirs or executors before deploying digital replicas of deceased persons.

The disclosure statute carries modest statutory fines , $1,000 for a first breach and $5,000 for repeat violations , and becomes effective 180 days after the December 11, 2025 signing, putting mid-June 2026 squarely on the compliance calendar for institutions that commission or produce recruitment, fundraising or promotional content. Industry guidance notes limited exemptions, such as audio-only ads and narrow translation uses, but stresses the need for conspicuous notice when a synthetic performer is present and known.

The posthumous-rights measure is already enforceable and tightens New York’s right of publicity by expanding definitions and prohibiting unauthorised commercial uses of a deceased person’s name, voice, image or likeness via digital replicas. Remedies include the greater of $2,000 or compensatory damages, disgorgement of profits attributable to the use and the possibility of punitive awards, a package of remedies counsel say could prove costly for institutions that repurpose archival materials without securing estate permissions.

For institutions of higher education and arts organisations the new framework demands immediate review of both external vendor contracts and internal creative workflows. Legal advisers recommend adding explicit vendor obligations to disclose synthetic performers and to obtain and warrant postmortem consents, and establishing audit trails for where and how synthetic media are deployed across admissions, alumni outreach, theatrical promotions and virtual campus experiences.

Practical compliance will hinge on clear operational definitions and governance. While the law’s language excludes stylised or illustrative imagery from the synthetic-performer label, many organisations are urged to treat borderline cases conservatively and to reflect AI use in their own communications policies to avoid inadvertent violations. Those using archival footage or recreations should assume consent is required for deceased individuals unless a legal right is demonstrably held.

The legislative move in Albany arrives against the backdrop of federal interest in a uniform approach to AI. An executive order issued on December 11, 2025, urged the attorney general to challenge state-level rules that it views as impediments to AI development, introducing uncertainty over whether aspects of New York’s measures might face federal preemption or litigation. Legal commentators caution that institutions must comply with state law as it stands while watching for any definitional clarifications or legal challenges at the national level.

Counsel and compliance teams should document risk assessments, update procurement and talent agreements, and inventory existing content for potential exposure now that the posthumous-rights law is effective and the disclosure requirement will take effect in mid-June 2026. Observers say New York’s statutes position the state among the most interventionist on consumer-facing AI transparency and publicity rights, a posture likely to shape institutional practice and vendor terms for the foreseeable future.

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Source: Noah Wire Services