Why California Governor Vetoed an AI Safety Bill
Movieguide® Contributor
California Governor Gavin Newsom isn’t on board with a major AI safety bill due to strict standards applied to “basic functions.”
“I do not believe this is the best approach to protecting the public from real threats posed by the technology,” Newsom said in his veto. He added that he will work with the “legislature, federal partners, technology experts, ethicists, and academia, to find the appropriate path forward, including legislation and regulation.”
“S.B. 1047 would have required AI developers in the state to implement security precautions before training their models,” Deadline reported. “OpenAI had warned of the impact of the bill on the industry’s growth, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) came out against it.”
The bill would have mandated safety features such as a “kill switch” to close down AI models should there be an extreme or dangerous consequence of the platform.
“The bill faced strong opposition from a wide range of groups,” CNN reported. “Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Meta Platforms, all of which are developing generative AI models, had expressed their concerns about the proposal.”
Celebrities including Jane Fonda, Pedro Pascal and Shonda Rhimes urged Newsom to sign the bill authored by State Senator Scott Weiner.
Weiner said, “This veto is a missed opportunity for California to once again lead on innovative tech regulation — just as we did around data privacy and net neutrality — and we are all less safe as a result.”
“Safety protocols must be adopted,” Newsom said. “Proactive guardrails should be implemented, and severe consequences for bad actors must be clear and enforceable. I do not agree, however, that to keep the public safe, we must settle for a solution that is not informed by an empirical trajectory analysis of Al systems and capabilities. Ultimately, any framework for effectively regulating Al needs to keep pace with the technology itself.”
Though Newsom doesn’t approve of this bill, he did sign several other bills this month that do restrict AI.
Movieguide® reported:
California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed two bills that will create better protections for performers and others concerned about AI digital versions of their likenesses.
“We’re making sure that no one turns over their name, image and likeness to unscrupulous people without representation or union advocacy,” Newsom said of the new bills.
AB 1836 “expands the scope of the state’s postmortem right of publicity, including the use of digital replicas,” per Deadline. This means that anyone seeking to recreate the voice and likeness of a deceased person would need to have permission from their estate.
