
Will This Bill Enact AI Regulations That Make a Difference?
By Movieguide® Contributor
Artificial intelligence’s power continues to grow, and lawmakers are stepping in to protect those who could be harmed by it.
Not only is the tech taking over aspects of some people’s jobs, but it also can “mimic humans convincingly enough to fuel massive phone scams or spin up nonconsensual deepfake imagery of celebrities to be used in harassment campaigns,” according to The Verge.
Because of its growing capabilities, California Governor Gavin Newsom is about to make a decision on a bill that would regulate AI’s power.
The bill, SB 1047 which enacts the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act, would require “that a developer, before beginning to initially train a covered model, as defined, comply with various requirements, including implementing the capability to promptly enact a full shutdown.”
Other aspects of the regulation explain that developers must “implement a written and separate safety and security protocol, as specified.”
“The bill would require a developer to retain an unredacted copy of the safety and security protocol for as long as the covered model is made available for commercial, public, or foreseeably public use plus 5 years, including records and dates of any updates or revisions and would require a developer to grant to the Attorney General access to the unredacted safety and security protocol,” the bill continues.
However, many big tech companies do not support the legislation, and some, including Andrew Ng, cofounder of Coursera and founder of Google Brain, plan to “protest SB 1047 in the streets of San Francisco.”
While at a Y Combinator event, Ng said, “When someone trains a large language model…that’s a technology. When someone puts them into a medical device or into a social media feed or into a chatbot or uses that to generate political deepfakes or non-consensual deepfake porn, those are applications. And the risk of AI is not a function. It doesn’t depend on the technology — it depends on the application.”
With many companies protesting, a weakened SB 1047 was drafted and even endorsed by Elon Musk, owner of X.
“This is a tough call and will make some people upset, but, all things considered, I think California should probably pass the SB 1047 AI safety bill.” Musk wrote last month. “For over 20 years, I have been an advocate for AI regulation, just as we regulate any product/technology that is a potential risk to the public.”
This is a tough call and will make some people upset, but, all things considered, I think California should probably pass the SB 1047 AI safety bill.
For over 20 years, I have been an advocate for AI regulation, just as we regulate any product/technology that is a potential risk…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 26, 2024
Movieguide® previously reported on the dangers of AI:
The San Francisco attorney’s office has just filed a landmark lawsuit against websites that create and distribute non-consensual AI-generated pornography.
“We have to be very clear that this is not innovation — this is sexual abuse,” San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said in a statement given to KQED. “This is a big, multi-faceted problem that we, as a society, need to solve as soon as possible. We all need to do our part to crack down on bad actors using AI to exploit and abuse real people, including children.”
The San Francisco Standard reported that the lawsuit “targets several companies based in the U.S. and abroad as well as 50 unnamed John Doe defendants who operate popular ‘nudifying’ websites that let users submit images of clothed victims.”
During a press conference, Chiu described the situation in greater detail, saying, “These images are used to bully, humiliate, and threaten women and girls. These websites allow users to upload photos of real, clothed individuals. AI technology will then ‘undress’ these persons in the photo, creating pornographic images.”