The first AI bill is on the way in California, sparking infighting among a group of AI pioneers.
The AI safety bill, SB 1047, would impose additional accountability on developers who spend more than $100 million building AI models, including requirements for safety testing, implementing safeguards, and allowing state attorneys general to take action against developers of AI models that cause “significant harm,” such as accidents resulting in multiple deaths and injuries or more than $500 million in damages.
Companies would have to agree to third-party audits and install kill switches that allow the technology to be turned off at any time. The bill also proposes to provide protections for whistleblowers.
California Sen. Scott Wiener, a co-author of the bill, accused some opponents of “fear mongering” to block the state's law from passing.
“There have been a lot of dramatic statements and misstatements by some in the opposition,” Wiener said. “Big labs have repeatedly and loudly promised to conduct safety evaluations on their own large models, and that's what this bill requires — making a voluntary commitment mandatory.”
The bill has passed the state Senate and is expected to go to the state Assembly for a vote by the end of the week. It has been amended multiple times, so the Senate will take a final vote. If it passes, it will go to Governor Gavin Newsom for his signature. Governor Newsom has not said which direction he is leaning.
Weiner, who represents San Francisco, held a virtual press conference on Wednesday with supporters of the bill, including Yoshua Bengio, known as one of the “godfathers of AI,” Center for AI Safety Director Dan Hendricks, California Department of Economic Security Director Teri Auerre, Encode Justice Vice President of Political Affairs Sunny Gandhi, and Thibaut Duchemin, CEO of AI startup Ava.
Weiner called SB 1047 “reasonable” and “light touch,” referring to META's AI model Llama, and argued that the bill shouldn't stop the company from open-sourcing its model because “Meta has already committed to doing this testing,” he said.
“We're working hard to make the case to my colleagues in the Legislature that this bill is worthy of their support, and we certainly have a path to passing it through the Legislature,” Wiener told Yahoo Finance. “What the governor is saying is very much in line with my own thinking, which is that regulation can be appropriate here, and we want to make sure that we're also encouraging innovation.”
On Monday night, Elon Musk, owner of leading AI modeling company xAI, voiced his support for the bill, posting to X, “This is a difficult call and it will anger some people, but all things considered, I think California should probably pass SB 1047, the AI Safety Bill. For over 20 years, I have advocated for regulating AI, just as we would regulate any product/technology that poses a potential risk to the public.”
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California's Artificial Intelligence Bill – SB1047.
Last week, Anthropik sent an open letter to Governor Newsom offering cautious support for the revised bill. In the letter, the company acknowledged the changes and said it is “confident that the bill is a significant improvement and that its benefits outweigh its costs.” Anthropik co-founder Jack Clark shared the letter on X and said he “does not endorse it.”
The revised bill removes the creation of a “Frontier Model Division” to crack down on frontier models, and also abolishes the perjury penalty for lying about being a model, instead applying existing laws.
In a letter to Wiener, OpenAI's chief strategy officer, Jason Kwon, said the organization supports some provisions of the bill but believes decisions about regulating AI should be left to the federal government.
“A set of federally led AI policies, rather than a patchwork of state laws, would spur innovation and position the United States to lead the development of global standards,” Kwon wrote.
But former OpenAI researchers Daniel Kokotaijo and William Sanders said they were disappointed with OpenAI's decision to oppose it. “Our former boss, Sam Altman, has repeatedly called for AI regulation,” they wrote in a letter to Newsom last week. “Now, when actual regulation is on the table, he opposes it.”
Google (GOOG, GOOGL), Meta and Andreessen Horowitz are among the big names who say the bill is a threat to innovation and research, and some worry that the bill could put California at a disadvantage and risk losing Silicon Valley-based AI companies.
SB 1047 has also drawn criticism from prominent figures in the industry. Dr. Fei-Fei Li, known as the “Godmother of AI” and co-director of Stanford University's Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, wrote in Fortune magazine earlier this month that the bill's penalties and restrictions would have “unintended consequences” on innovation.
Lee said SB 1047 would “negatively impact our growing AI ecosystem, particularly the public sector, academia, and 'little tech' segments that are already at a disadvantage against today's tech giants.”
Wiener has also faced opposition from his Democratic colleagues, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called the bill “well-intentioned but ill-informed.” Eight California representatives have also urged Newsom to veto the bill: Reps. Ro Khanna, Zoe Lofgren, Anna G. Eshoo, Scott Peters, Tony Cárdenas, Ami Vela, Nanette Díaz Barragán and Lou Correa.
Wiener said he welcomes the federal government preempting SB 1047 with strong AI safety regulations. “Congress is completely paralyzed when it comes to technology policy,” Wiener said. “Congress has great people to do it, but the agency as a whole is not taking the action that needs to be taken.”
California lawmakers have introduced 50 AI-related bills aimed at regulating the emerging technology. Currently, there is no federal law that provides guidelines for AI developers. If passed and signed into law, SB 1047 could be the first full-scale AI regulation in the United States.
Yasmin Coram is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow Yasmin on Twitter/X Yasmin Coram You can also find us on LinkedIn. Send your newsworthy tips to Yasmin at [email protected]
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