LEGISLATURE 2025-26 / CLYDE SHAVERS: House Passes Shavers’ bill on AI content notification

State Representative Clyde Shavers (D-Clinton) posted this in the news section of his legislative website on Feb. 17, 2026.

OLYMPIA – The Washington State House of Representatives has passed legislation requiring notification when content is created or modified by artificial intelligence (AI). Sponsored by Rep. Clyde Shavers, D‑Clinton, House Bill 1170 requires notification of AI content.

“You have a right to know when you are seeing AI content,” said Shavers. “In a time when technology can imitate a face, a voice, or a moment with astonishing realism, transparency isn’t optional – it’s protection. If AI made it, or AI changed it, people deserve a clear notice. Every time.”

AI-generated content has rapidly proliferated on social media and other platforms in recent years. As AI becomes better at producing realistic images, video, and audio, the potential for confusion, deception, and misinformation increases. AI also poses challenges for human creators when machine-generated work is presented in ways that appear indistinguishable from human-made content. House Bill 1170 aims to make it abundantly clear when media has been generated by an AI program.

“This is about keeping truth within reach,” continued Shavers. “When we scroll, stream, and share, we’re not just consuming content – we’re deciding what to believe, what to trust, and what to pass along to our neighbors. House Bill 1170 puts a simple label of transparency back into the system, so Washingtonians can recognize what’s human-made and what’s machine-generated – and so real creativity, real work, and real voices don’t get drowned out.”

Passing with a vote of 56‑37, House Bill 1170 will now head to the Senate for consideration.