California's legislature on Wednesday advanced a first-of-its-kind bill aimed at ensuring AI safety, which, if signed into law, could set off a cascade of US regulations over the rapidly evolving technology.
The bill, SB 1047, passed with an overwhelming vote from the California State Assembly to have top companies like Microsoft and Open AI include safety measures in the systems pre-release. It would also grant the state's attorney general authority to file lawsuits against AI developers if their system was creating serious harm to the public.
It's time that Big Tech plays by some kind of a rule, not a lot, but something," said Republican Assembly member Devon Mathis, in support of the bill Wednesday. The bill is among hundreds of bills lawmakers attend to during its final week of session.
With the bill's passage in the Assembly on Wednesday, it would need only a final, procedural vote in the Senate before reaching the desk of the governor in Sacramento. Governor Gavin Newsom will have until the end of September to either approve, veto or allow the bill to become a law without his signature.
SB 1047 is a reasonable bill that simply requires AI developers to do what they have already said they will do," said Senator Scott Wiener, the bill's primary author. Assuming 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-from the introduction of facial recognition systems to human-sounding chat bots and conversational search engines.
It's a line in the sand that has split Silicon Valley down the middle, and some of the most powerful tech voices are weighing in.
Criticism is not limited to power players such as Open AI and Anthropic but crosses over into the ranks of politicians, including Nancy Pelosi, who have raised their objections to the bill and the enforcement powers being granted to the state's attorney general. But several industry and business groups -- including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Software and Information Industry Association also objected to the bill.
Tesla chief and X boss Elon Musk weighed in for the bill-a decision he called a "tough call." He said AI's public danger earns the impending California regulation. With more than 30 of the world's leading AI companies maintaining bases in California, the state was often seen as one of the technology's early adopters. The state also wants to deploy generative AI tools to help address road safety and congestion
