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The requirement takes effect 60 days after signing. Its sponsor says political ads are excluded and penalties will fall on AI companies rather than individual users.
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Pennsylvania’s Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act requires disclosure when AI substantially generates or rewrites advertising, including ads made outside the state but shown there. Signed on October 22, 2026, the law takes effect 60 days later; political ads are exempt. The state attorney general will enforce it, and sponsor Nick Pisciottano said penalties would target AI companies rather than individual users, putting compliance responsibility on businesses that generate or distribute covered ads.
Disclosures must be clear and conspicuous and use the same format as the advertisement, including for television and radio spots.
The requirement covers substantial AI modifications as well as content generated from scratch.
Pennsylvania ads may need labels even when the same commercial also runs in other states.
Advertisements shown in Pennsylvania will have to disclose when their images, video, audio or text were substantially generated or rewritten by AI. Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the requirement into law on October 22, 2026, with enforcement beginning 60 days later. The change reaches ads made outside Pennsylvania, not just those produced within its borders.
State Sen. Nick Pisciottano, the bill’s sponsor, described the measure as a consumer-protection response. During work on the legislation, he said, consumer groups representing older people reported that some less technologically literate consumers were being scammed through fake AI advertising.
The advertising involved is not limited to fabricated people or voices. CBS Pittsburgh described restaurants using AI-generated food images to promote their offerings on Facebook.
This technology is only going to get better and better, and eventually, it's going to get to the point where it's very difficult to differentiate between something that's real or fake
State Sen. Nick Pisciottano, speaking to CBS Pittsburgh
The Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act requires a clear and conspicuous disclosure for covered synthetic content. Digital Watch’s account of the law says that the label must use the same format as the advertisement itself. The requirement covers content significantly modified by AI as well as content generated by it.
A television or radio commercial created with AI would therefore need an acknowledgment of that use, CBS Pittsburgh explained. The rule is not confined to the visual disclosures consumers might encounter while scrolling through social media.
Covered ads broadcast or displayed in Pennsylvania must carry the disclosure even when produced elsewhere. Digital Watch noted that commercials intended for Pennsylvania audiences could consequently carry those disclosures when they also air in other states.
There is an important boundary to that coverage: political advertisements are excluded, according to Pisciottano.
The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General will enforce the law. Pisciottano said penalties would fall on AI companies, not individual users. He described possible consequences as fines and potential jail time, placing the legal burden on the companies under his account of the measure.
The sponsor also said companies are responsible for adding disclaimers as AI content is generated.
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