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On Wednesday, California’s legislature advanced a first-of-its-kind AI safety bill that could pave the way for US regulations on the rapidly evolving technology.
The California State Assembly overwhelmingly approved the AI safety bill, known as SB 1047, which would require top AI companies like Microsoft and OpenAI to put safety measures in their systems before releasing them to the public. The bill also empowers the state’s attorney general to sue AI developers in cases where their systems create serious harm to the public.
“It’s time that Big Tech plays by some kind of a rule, not a lot, but something,” Republican Assemblymember Devon Mathis said in support of the bill Wednesday.
The bill is among hundreds of bills lawmakers attend to during its final week of session.
Following the bill’s passage at the Assembly on Wednesday, the bill now requires a final Senate vote, considered a procedural step, before it moves to the governor’s desk in Sacramento.
Governor Gavin Newsom has until the end of September to approve, veto or allow the bill to become law without his signature.
Senator Scott Wiener, the bill’s main author, describes SB 1047 as a reasonable bill that requires AI developers to do what they’ve already committed to do.
SB 1047 — our AI safety bill — just passed off the Assembly floor. I’m proud of the diverse coalition behind this bill — a coalition that deeply believes in both innovation & safety.
AI has so much promise to make the world a better place. It’s exciting.
Thank you, colleagues.
— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) August 28, 2024
If the governor signs the bill into law, California will become the first state in the US to regulate a technology that has experienced exponential growth in recent years, including the introduction of facial recognition systems, humanlike chatbots and conversational search engines.
Divergent Opinions in the Silicon Valley
SB 1047 has drawn a line through Silicon Valley, and some of the tech’s most influential figures are letting their voices be heard.
Critics of the AI safety bill, including the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic, and politicians like Nancy Pelosi, have shown their displeasure with the bill and its enforcement powers on the state’s attorney general.
It’s final – every major AI lab in California and most academics at the major Californian universities want @Scott_Wiener’s SB 1047 to be tabled. Nancy Pelosi and most of the CA Congressional delegation agree. OpenAI asserts that open source LLMs and likely even closed ones… https://t.co/ccCMtTAUnF
— Arun Rao (@rao_hacker_one) August 22, 2024
In addition, a number of industry and business groups, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Software and Information Industry Association, voiced their opposition to the bill.
However, Tesla CEO and X boss Elon Musk supported the bill, a decision he described as a “tough call.” He believes AI’s risk to the public justifies the imminent regulation in California.
California is home to more than 30 of the world’s top AI companies, and it has been seen as one of the early adopters of the technology. The state also plans to deploy generative AI tools to address road safety and congestion.
