California puts $5,000 a day behind AI labels

California’s AI Transparency Act became operative August 2, exposing covered providers to $5,000 per violation for every day of noncompliance. The state code applies to publicly accessible generative systems with more than 1 million monthly users and requires a free detection tool plus latent provenance disclosures in generated images, video, and audio; separate platform duties start in 2027. For builders already navigating 98 chatbot bills across 34 states, provenance support is now a live California compliance surface, not a roadmap item.