Proposed 2nd Substitute House Bill 1170 (H-2880.1/26) Compared to the Original Bill (House Committee)

Summary

A staff summary of Proposed 2nd Substitute House Bill 1170 (H-2880.1/26) for the House Technology, Economic Development, and Veterans Committee, by Representative Shavers, dated January 12, 2026. It first describes the original bill, which requires providers of certain generative artificial intelligence systems to make an AI detection tool available, offer users the option of including disclosures, and include latent disclosures in content. It then lists changes from the original bill, including adding an intent section, removing the monthly usership threshold from the definition of covered provider and adding thresholds based on computing power and revenues, and requiring a provenance detection tool instead of an artificial intelligence detection tool.

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                          Proposed 2nd Substitute House Bill 1170 (H-2880.1/26)
                       House Technology, Economic Development, and Veterans Committee
                                           By Representative Shavers

Original Bill:

The bill requires providers of certain generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems to make an AI detection tool available
to users. It also requires providers of certain generative AI systems to offer users the option of including disclosures in
content created or altered by the systems. The bill also requires providers of certain generative AI systems to include
latent disclosures in content created by their systems.



Proposed 2nd Substitute House Bill (H-2880.1/26) compared to the Original Bill:

    •   Adds an intent section;
    •   Modifies the definition of "artificial intelligence" to generally refer to the use of machine learning and related
        technologies that use data to train statistical models for the purpose of enabling computer systems to perform
        tasks normally associated with human intelligence or perception, instead of an engineered or machine-based
        system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it
        receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments;
    • Modifies the definition of "covered provider" by:
             o removing the monthly usership threshold;
             o adding thresholds based on both the computing power used to train a foundation model and the
                 person's revenues; and
             o excluding public entities, tribal nations, and business-to-business systems;
    • Replaces the definition of "generative artificial intelligence system" with a definition of "generative artificial
        intelligence," defined as an artificial intelligence system that generates novel data or content based on a
        foundation model;
    • Modifies the definition of "personal information" to be the same as the definition in RCW 19.373.010, instead of
        the definition in RCW 19.255.005;
    • Modifies the definition of "system provenance data" to include data that contains information that helps a user
        assess authenticity, instead of information related to content authenticity;
    • Requires a covered provider to make available a "provenance detection tool" instead of an "artificial intelligence
        detection tool;"
    • Removes the requirement that the provenance detection tool must not output any personal provenance data
        that is detected in content;
    • Requires the provenance detection tool's results to be publicly accessible, instead of the tool being publicly
        accessible;
    • Removes the requirement that the provenance detection tool must support an application programming
        interface;
    • Requires a covered provider to consider, instead of incorporate, user feedback;
    • Requires that when covered providers offer users the option of including manifest disclosures in content, the
        manifest disclosures must identify the content as artificial intelligence-generated or -modified content, instead
        of just artificial intelligence-generated;
    • Establishes that manifest disclosures must be difficult to remove, and latent disclosures must be difficult to
        remove or recoverable, instead of permanent or extraordinarily difficult to remove;
    • Requires that latent disclosures include the time and date that the disclosure was added, instead of the time and
        date of the content's creation or alteration;
 Staff: Emily Poole
 Date: January 12, 2026
   •     Requires that latent disclosures include personal provenance information only to the extent that a user has
         chosen to add such information;
   •     Specifies that the types of products, services, websites, and applications exempted from the bill's requirements
         include products, services, websites, and applications that exclusively provide the sale of goods or services
         directly to consumers through the internet, allowing customers to browse, select, and purchase items virtually;
   •     Modifies the enforcement provisions by:
             o establishing that any waiver of the chapter is contrary to public policy and is void and unenforceable;
                  and
             o limiting the per se violation of the Consumer Protection Act to apply to only actions brought by the
                  Attorney General and establishing that only the Attorney General may bring an action under the
                  Consumer Protection Act to enforce the chapter.




Staff:    Emily Poole
Date:     January 12, 2026
                BILL REQUEST - CODE REVISER'S OFFICE




BILL REQ. #:         H-2880.1/26

ATTY/TYPIST:         CC:akl

BRIEF DESCRIPTION:   Informing users when content is developed or
                     modified by artificial intelligence.
1        AN ACT Relating to informing users when content is developed or
2    modified by artificial intelligence; and adding a new chapter to
3    Title 19 RCW.


4    BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:


 5       NEW SECTION.   Sec. 1.   The legislature finds that as generative
 6   artificial intelligence models become increasingly sophisticated, and
 7   the content created by such models proliferates across commonly used
 8   platforms, it can be difficult for the public to trust the accuracy,
 9   authenticity, or origin of information accessed on the internet.
10   Recent   technological   advances   allow  providers   of  generative
11   artificial intelligence systems to use watermarking and other
12   technologies to label or detect content created using their
13   proprietary models. By ensuring that the public has access to
14   reliable provenance data, the providers of generative artificial
15   intelligence systems can improve the public's ability to assess the
16   accuracy and authenticity of synthetic content, thereby helping to
17   reduce risks of misinformation.


18       NEW SECTION.   Sec. 2.   The definitions in this section apply
19   throughout  this   chapter unless  the   context  clearly  requires
20   otherwise.
     Code Rev/CC:akl                   1                       H-2880.1/26
 1       (1) "Artificial intelligence" means the use of machine learning
 2   and related technologies that use data to train statistical models
 3   for the purpose of enabling computer systems to perform tasks
 4   normally associated with human intelligence or perception, such as
 5   computer vision, speech or natural language processing, and content
 6   generation.
 7       (2)(a) "Covered provider" means a person who:
 8       (i) Has used, or intends to use, a quantity of computing power
 9   greater than 10^26 integer or floating-point operations to train a
10   foundation model, including the computing power used for the original
11   training run and for any subsequent fine tuning, reinforcement
12   learning, or other material modifications made to a preceding
13   foundation model;
14       (ii) Uses such foundation model to create, code, or otherwise
15   produce a generative artificial intelligence system that is publicly
16   accessible within the geographic boundaries of the state, excluding
17   generative artificial intelligence systems licensed or sold for
18   business-to-business purposes; and
19       (iii) Collectively, together with any affiliates, had annual
20   gross revenues in excess of $500,000,000 in the preceding calendar
21   year.
22       (b) "Covered provider" does not mean public entities or tribal
23   nations.
24       (3) "Generative artificial intelligence" means an artificial
25   intelligence system that generates novel data or content based on a
26   foundation model.
27       (4) "Latent" means present but not manifest.
28       (5) "Manifest" means easily perceived, understood, or recognized
29   by a natural person.
30       (6) "Metadata" means structural or descriptive information about
31   data.
32       (7) "Personal information" has the same meaning as defined in RCW
33   19.373.010.
34       (8) "Personal provenance data" means provenance data that
35   contains either of the following:
36       (a) Personal information; or
37       (b) Unique device, system, or service information that is
38   reasonably capable of being associated with a particular user.
39       (9) "Provenance data" means data that is embedded into digital
40   content or that is included in the digital content's metadata for the
     Code Rev/CC:akl                   2                       H-2880.1/26
1    purpose of verifying the digital content's authenticity, origin, or
2    history of modification.
3        (10) "System provenance data" means provenance data that is not
4    reasonably capable of being associated with a particular user and
5    that contains either of the following:
6        (a) Information regarding the type of device, system, or service
7    that was used to generate a piece of digital content; or
8        (b) Information that helps a user assess authenticity.


 9       NEW SECTION.     Sec. 3.    (1) A covered provider shall make
10   available a provenance detection tool at no cost to the user that
11   meets all of the following criteria:
12       (a) The tool allows a user to assess whether image, video, or
13   audio content, or content that is any combination thereof, was
14   created or altered by the covered provider's generative artificial
15   intelligence system;
16       (b) The tool outputs any system provenance data that is detected
17   in the content;
18       (c) The tool's results are publicly accessible, whether by
19   release of the tool directly or by services that provide access to
20   the tool's outputs, and a covered provider may impose reasonable
21   limitations on access to the tool to prevent, or respond to,
22   demonstrable risks to the security or integrity of its generative
23   artificial intelligence system;
24       (d) The tool allows a user to upload content or provide a uniform
25   resource locator linking to online content; and
26       (e) Users can invoke the tool without visiting the covered
27   provider's internet website, for instance, through an application
28   programming interface.
29       (2) A covered provider shall collect user feedback related to the
30   efficacy of the covered provider's provenance detection tool and
31   consider relevant feedback as part of any attempt to improve the
32   efficacy of the tool.
33       (3) A covered provider may not do any of the following:
34       (a) Collect or retain personal information from users of the
35   covered provider's provenance detection tool, except:
36       (i) A covered provider may collect and retain the contact
37   information of a user who submits feedback pursuant to subsection (2)
38   of this section if the user opts in to being contacted by the covered
39   provider; and
     Code Rev/CC:akl                   3                       H-2880.1/26
 1       (ii) User information collected may only be used to evaluate and
 2   improve the efficacy of the covered provider's provenance detection
 3   tool;
 4       (b) Retain any content submitted to the provenance detection tool
 5   for longer than is necessary to comply with this section; or
 6       (c) Retain any personal provenance data from content submitted to
 7   the provenance detection tool by a user.

 8       NEW SECTION.   Sec. 4.   (1) A covered provider shall offer the
 9   user the option to include a manifest disclosure in image, video, or
10   audio content, or content that is any combination thereof, created or
11   altered by the covered provider's generative artificial intelligence
12   system that meets all of the following criteria:
13       (a) The disclosure identifies content as artificial intelligence-
14   generated or artificial intelligence-modified content;
15       (b) The disclosure is clear, conspicuous, appropriate for the
16   medium of the content, and understandable to a reasonable person; and
17       (c) The disclosure is difficult to remove, to the extent it is
18   technically feasible.
19       (2) A covered provider shall include a latent disclosure in
20   artificial intelligence-generated image, video, or audio content, or
21   content that is any combination thereof, created by the covered
22   provider's generative artificial intelligence system that meets all
23   of the following criteria:
24       (a) To the extent it is technically feasible and reasonable, the
25   disclosure conveys all of the following information, either directly
26   or through a link to a permanent internet website:
27       (i) The name of the covered provider;
28       (ii) The name and version number of the generative artificial
29   intelligence system that created or altered the content;
30       (iii) The time and date that the disclosure was added to the
31   generated or altered content;
32       (iv) A unique identifier; and
33       (v) Personal provenance information only to the extent that a
34   user has affirmatively chosen to add such information;
35       (b) The disclosure is detectable by the covered provider's
36   provenance detection tool;
37       (c) The disclosure is consistent with widely accepted industry
38   standards;


     Code Rev/CC:akl                   4                       H-2880.1/26
 1       (d) The disclosure is difficult to remove or recoverable, to the
 2   extent it is technically feasible.
 3       (3)(a) If a covered provider licenses its generative artificial
 4   intelligence system to a third party, the covered provider shall
 5   require by contract that the licensee maintain the system's
 6   capability to include a disclosure required by subsection (2) of this
 7   section in content the system creates or alters.
 8       (b) If a covered provider knows that a third-party licensee
 9   modified a licensed generative artificial intelligence system such
10   that it is no longer capable of including a disclosure required by
11   subsection (2) of this section in content the system creates or
12   alters, the covered provider shall revoke the license within 96 hours
13   of discovering the licensee's action.
14       (c) A third-party licensee shall cease using a licensed
15   generative artificial intelligence system after the license for the
16   system has been revoked by the covered provider pursuant to (b) of
17   this subsection.


18       NEW SECTION.   Sec. 5.   This act does not apply to any product,
19   service, internet website, or application that provides exclusively
20   video game, television, streaming, movie, or interactive experiences
21   including, but not limited to, the sale of goods or services directly
22   to consumers through the internet, allowing customers to browse,
23   select, and purchase items virtually.


24       NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. (1) Any waiver of the provisions of this
25   chapter is contrary to public policy and is void and unenforceable.
26       (2) The attorney general may bring an action in the name of the
27   state, or as parens patriae on behalf of persons residing in the
28   state, to enforce this chapter. For actions brought by the attorney
29   general to enforce this chapter, the legislature finds that the
30   practices covered by this chapter are matters vitally affecting the
31   public interest for the purpose of applying the consumer protection
32   act, chapter 19.86 RCW. For actions brought by the attorney general
33   to enforce this chapter, a violation of this chapter is not
34   reasonable in relation to the development and preservation of
35   business and is an unfair or deceptive act in trade or commerce and
36   an unfair method of competition for purposes of applying the consumer
37   protection act, chapter 19.86 RCW.


     Code Rev/CC:akl                   5                       H-2880.1/26
1       (3) Only the attorney general can bring an action under the
2   consumer protection act, chapter 19.86 RCW, pursuant to this section.


3       NEW SECTION.     Sec. 7.    Sections 1   through   6   of   this   act
4   constitute a new chapter in Title 19 RCW.

                                 --- END ---




    Code Rev/CC:akl                   6                         H-2880.1/26


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