SB 574 Advances: California AI Rules for Lawyers & Arbitrators Near Enactment

As an update to our May 27, 2026 article, on Monday, August 31, California’s General Assembly passed SB 574 by a 75-0 vote (after having passed in the State Senate by a 40-0 vote). The bill now proceeds to Governor Newsom’s desk for signature.

Following the publication of our article, the provision of the bill was amended slightly with respect to the provision we commented on, requiring the attorney responsible for submitting a pleading to personally read and verify any citations in court filings. The provision has been amended as follows:  

(2) (A) A brief, pleading, motion, or any other paper filed in any court shall not contain any citations that the an attorney responsible for submitting the pleading has not personally read and verified, including any citation provided by generative artificial intelligence.

Important provisions discussed in our May article relating to ensuring that attorneys do not enter confidential or personal information into a public generative AI tool and ensuring that arbitrators do not delegate decision-making to generative AI remain in the bill. 

While some commentators have suggested that the bill’s prohibition of “delegate[ing] the practice of law to generative artificial intelligence” will be a sea change in the way lawyers and law firms are using AI now, we suspect that it will do little to deter lawyers from continuing to use generative AI as a tool in their practice. The bill nonetheless serves as an important reminder that lawyers must verify the information they use to advise their clients and in their court submissions, regardless of whether it comes from generative AI.