A first-of-its-kind AI bill is making its way through California, sparking infighting among AI pioneer groups.
The AI safety bill, SB 1047, would impose more liability on any developer spending more than $100 million to create an AI model. Requirements include safety testing, implementing safeguards, and allowing the state attorney general to take action against the developer of any AI model that causes “serious harm,” such as mass casualties or incidents causing $500 million or more in damages.
Companies must agree to third-party audits and implement a kill switch that allows the technology to be turned off at any time. The bill also proposes protections for whistleblowers.
California State Senator Scott Wiener, a co-sponsor of the bill, accused some opponents of “fear-mongering” in an attempt to prevent passage of the state legislation.
“There’s been a lot of drama and dramatic and misrepresentation from some of the opponents,” Wiener said. “The big labs have repeatedly and vehemently committed to doing safety assessments on their big models and that’s what this bill requires. To take a voluntary commitment and make it mandatory.”
The bill has passed the state Senate and is expected to be voted on by the Assembly later this week. It will return for a final vote in the Senate because it has been amended several times. If passed, it will go to Gov. Gavin Newsom for his signature. Newsom has not indicated which way he is leaning.
Wiener, who represents San Francisco, held a virtual press conference Wednesday with supporters of the bill, including Yoshua Bengio, known as one of the “godfathers of AI,” Center for AI Safety Director Dan Hendrycks, Economic Security California Director Teri Olle, Encode Justice Vice President of Policy Affairs Sunny Gandhi and AI startup Ava CEO Thibault Duchemin.
Wiener called the bill, SB 1047, “reasonable” and “lightweight,” referring to Meta (META) Llama AI model. “Meta has already committed to doing these tests,” he said, so this bill should not force the company to stop releasing the model as open source.
“We’re working very hard to convince my colleagues in the Assembly that this bill is worthy of support. We certainly have a path to get it through the Assembly,” Wiener told Yahoo Finance. “The governor has made statements that are very much in line with my own thinking: Regulation may be appropriate in this case, and we want to make sure that we’re also fostering innovation.”
On Monday night, Elon Musk, owner of the large AI modeling company xAI, spoke out in support of the bill, publication on X “This is a tough decision and it will upset some people, but on balance I think California should probably pass SB 1047 on AI safety. For over 20 years I have been an advocate for regulating AI, just as we regulate any product/technology that poses a potential risk to the public.”
Last week, Anthropique wrote an open letter Governor Newsom sent a letter to the government, expressing cautious support for the amended bill. In the letter, the company acknowledged the changes and said the bill had been “significantly improved, to the point where we believe its benefits likely outweigh its costs.” Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark shared the letter on X, noting that it was “not an endorsement.”
The amended bill removed the creation of a “Border Model Division” to monitor border models. It also removed criminal perjury for lying about models and will now rely on existing laws.
In a letter to Wiener, OpenAI chief strategy officer Jason Kwon wrote that while his company supports some of the bill’s provisions, AI regulation should be left to the federal government.
“A set of federally driven AI policies, rather than a patchwork of state laws, will foster innovation and position the United States to lead the development of global standards,” Kwon wrote.
But two former OpenAI researchers, Daniel Kokotajlo and William Saunders, said they were disappointed by OpenAI’s decision to oppose it. “Sam Altman, our former boss, repeatedly called for AI regulation,” they wrote in a letter to Gov. Newsom last week. “Now, with real regulation on the table, he is opposing it.”
Google (GOOG, GOOGLE), Meta and Andreessen Horowitz are also among the big names calling the bill a threat to innovation and research. Some fear it will disadvantage California and risk losing Silicon Valley-based AI companies.
SB 1047 is also facing criticism from prominent figures in the industry. Dr. Fei-Fei Li, known as the “godmother of AI” and co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, written in Fortune Earlier this month, the bill’s sanctions and restrictions would have “unintended consequences” on innovation.
Li said SB 1047 would “harm our burgeoning AI ecosystem, particularly those parts of it that are already disadvantaged compared to today’s tech giants: the public sector, academia, and ‘small tech.’”
Wiener also faces opposition from some of his fellow Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. criticized the billcalling it “well-intentioned but ill-informed.” Eight members of the California House of Representatives are also urging Newsom to veto the measure: Ro Khanna, Zoe Lofgren, Anna G. Eshoo, Scott Peters, Tony Cárdenas, Ami Bera, Nanette Diaz Barragan and Lou Correa.
Wiener said he would welcome the federal government’s proposal to preempt SB 1047 by adopting strict AI safety regulations. “Congress has been completely paralyzed on technology policy,” Wiener said. “There are good people in Congress working toward this, but the institution as a whole has not acted as it should.”
California lawmakers have introduced 50 AI-related measures aimed at regulating the emerging technology. There is currently no federal law that establishes safeguards for AI developers. If passed and signed into law, SB 1047 could become the first true AI regulation in the country.
Yasmin Khorram is a senior journalist at Yahoo Finance. Follow Yasmin on Twitter/X @Yasmin Khorram and on LinkedInSend interesting information to Yasmin: yasmin.khorram@yahooinc.com
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