California Governor Vetos Sweeping AI Safety Bill

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Saturday vetoed a controversial and far-reaching artificial intelligence bill, SB 1047, that The New York Times “called the country’s most ambitious proposal aimed at limiting the growth of the new technology.”

“While well-intentioned, SB 1047 does not take into account whether an AI system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision making, or uses sensitive data,” the Democratic governor said in a statement. “Instead, the bill applies strict standards to even the most basic functions – as long as they are deployed by a large system. I do not believe this is the best approach to protecting the public from real threats posed by the technology.”

The bill is just the latest attempt to legislate the fast-growing artificial intelligence industry. Since August, the European Union has put its AI law into effect, but the US has not followed suit, although some states have passed laws against deepfakes and other deceptive uses of AI. European law regulates the type of artificial intelligence that technology companies can deploy, and calls on these companies to be transparent with users.

The California bill would require security testing of large AI models before they could be released to the public, gave the state’s attorney general the right to sue companies if their technologies caused serious harm and mandated a “kill switch” to kill AI systems in case of major threats.

Newsom said he is not against AI safety protocols.

“We cannot afford to wait until a major catastrophe occurs before we take action to protect the public. California will not abdicate its responsibility,” Newsom continued. “Proactive guardrails must be implemented, and serious consequences for bad actors must be clear and enforceable.”

The governor said a statewide solution must be “inspired by an empirical trajectory analysis of Al systems and capabilities,” adding, “Ultimately, any framework for effectively regulating Al must keep pace with the technology itself .’

Co-author of the bill, Senator Scott Wiener, called the veto a ‘setback’ in a released statement after the veto.

“This veto leaves us with the troubling reality that companies seeking to create an extremely powerful technology face no binding restrictions from U.S. policymakers, especially given Congress’s continued paralysis around regulating the tech industry in any meaningful way,” he said. the Democratic senator.

It’s far from the end of future attempts at large-scale AI legislation, especially in the state that’s home to the tech industry’s mighty Silicon Valley.

“California will continue to lead that conversation,” Wiener said. “We’re not going anywhere.”