GitHub has joined a coalition of open source advocates and technology companies calling on California lawmakers to amend the state’s AI Transparency Act, SB 942. The group argues that the bill as currently written creates legal conflicts with open source software licensing that could stifle collaboration and innovation.
What SB 942 would do
The California AI Transparency Act, introduced earlier this year, would require developers and deployers of certain AI systems to disclose when content is generated or modified by artificial intelligence. The goal is to give users a clear understanding of whether they are interacting with human or machine-produced material. But the coalition says the bill’s definitions and compliance obligations don’t account for how open source projects are built, distributed, and reused.
The open source clash
Open source licenses typically allow anyone to copy, modify, and redistribute code without imposing downstream transparency rules on every derivative work. The coalition warns that SB 942’s requirements could effectively force open source maintainers to track and enforce AI disclosures across countless forks and versions — something most small projects lack the resources to do. The group is asking legislators to carve out clear exemptions for open source software or to narrow the bill’s scope so it targets commercial deployers rather than upstream code contributors.
GitHub’s stake in the fight
GitHub, a Microsoft-owned platform that hosts millions of open source repositories, has a direct interest in keeping the legal environment friendly to collaborative development. The company hasn’t detailed its specific proposed amendments, but its participation in the coalition signals concern that the bill could create liability for platform users or for the platform itself. GitHub has previously advocated for balanced AI regulation that doesn’t punish the open source community for practices it has relied on for decades.
What the coalition wants
Beyond GitHub, the coalition includes several open source foundations and trade groups. Their core ask is that SB 942 be revised to explicitly state that open source projects are not subject to the same transparency mandates as commercial AI products. They also want the bill to clarify that distributing open source AI code or models does not count as “deploying” an AI system under the law. Without those changes, they argue, developers might stop sharing AI tools publicly, hurting research and transparency in the long run.
California’s legislative session continues through the summer, and SB 942 has already passed the Senate. The coalition’s lobbying effort now focuses on the Assembly, where amendments could be introduced before a final vote.
