Expressive-work exemption meaning

The two rules that get collapsed here are not the same carve-out. N.Y. GBL §396-b exempts advertisements for expressive works — film, television, games — when the synthetic performer's use in the ad matches its use in the work. A trailer for a film whose cast is already synthetic does not have to tell New York audiences something the medium already told them. It is an ads-for-the-work exemption, not a 'our brand film is cinematic' exemption. A subscription-box spot shot like a short is still an ad for a box (nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GBS/396-B; McDermott / Crowell / Manatt, June 2026).

Article 50 does not skip the label. Deployers who publish a deepfake to an EU audience still owe a visible or audible mark at first exposure. Artistic, creative, satirical or fictional works may label in a way that does not spoil the work — a credit, an end card, a mark that is perceivable without ruining a reveal (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/faqs/transparency-obligations-under-article-50-ai-act). That is a placement courtesy, not a silence. Standard assistive editing is a different, actual exemption. Public-interest AI text is labelled unless a human exercised editorial control over the claims.

If you are the deployer, assume you owe a perceivable label unless counsel walks you into a real exemption. If you are selling a product with a generated presenter, you are not in the NY trailer carve-out and you are not in the Article 50 spoiler courtesy just because the ad is funny. Deepfake is the realism test. The exemption is about the kind of work, not the tone of the prompt.