SAN FRANCISCO — A group representing numerous public-interest organizations and Senator Scott Wiener urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a landmark artificial intelligence regulation bill into law at a press conference Tuesday.
SB 1047, which has received both support and pushback from prominent tech leaders, would require that companies implement safeguards to protect against AI-driven cyberattacks and its use in the development of chemical, nuclear or biological weapons. Authored by Wiener, it passed through both houses of the state legislature by a wide margin last month.
“If AI models are gaining the ability to wreak havoc as quickly as they are gaining the ability to improve the world, it’s critical, as we promote innovation, that we also put robust guardrails in place now and not just rely on voluntary, non-transparent, unenforceable corporate commitments that may or may not hold water down the road,” Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, said at the press conference.
Wiener acknowledged the technological potential of AI – to help cure diseases, mitigate the climate crisis and more – but emphasized the importance of getting ahead of risks. This bill approaches the issue with “common sense and light touch,” Wiener said.
Wiener added that every large AI lab has already committed to implementing the safety protocols outlined by the bill.
Newsom has not publicly indicated whether he will sign the bill. The governor’s office said Tuesday that Newsom would “evaluate the merits” of the bills awaiting his approval; he has until Sept. 30 to act on the legislation.
The bill received a wide swath of bipartisan support in the statehouse but criticism from technology companies such as Meta, Google and OpenAI. Prominent Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the house, expressed concern that the bill will hurt innovation, while Geoffrey Hinton, the former head of AI at Google — often considered the “Godfather of AI” — said in a statement that the risks of AI are “very real and should be taken extremely seriously.”
The supporting coalition includes the National Organization for Women, youth advocacy groups, climate activists and more.
Bear Atwood, vice president of NOW, said that the bill will help prevent the exploitation and abuse of women online using AI-created deepfakes.
“The mental health impact and risk to physical safety posed by systems with no safeguards can be seen every day,” Atwood said. “We all know about young women who are going to school today under the shadow of a technology that is monetizing their exploitation.”
Multiple youth-led climate advocacy organizations, including OneUpAction International and Zero Hour, signed onto the coalition to push for early regulation to avoid threats down the line.
Zanagee Artis, founder of Zero Hour, pointed to potential detriments of AI models including gender and racial bias, the spread of disinformation and deepfakes as issues that could “deepen mistrust in climate science and even threaten the foundations of our democracy.”
“If there is one thing that my work on the front lines of the climate crisis has taught me, it is that we need to heed the warnings of leading scientists early on, rather than waiting until the damage is already well underway,” said Kevin J. Patel, founder and executive director of OneUpAction International.
The bill has seen pushback from some prominent Democrats, including Pelosi, San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Silicon Valley Reps. Ro Khanna and Zoe Lofgren. In a statement, Pelosi cited concerns that it will hamper the growth of the AI industry in the U.S.
Some technology companies, such as Meta, believe that the bill will “stifle AI development” and business growth, a Meta spokesperson told Bay Area News Group after the bill passed. Conversely, the bill has received support from Dario Amodei, CEO of AI company Anthropic, and Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk.
Newsom signed into law two other bills related to AI Tuesday: AB 2602, by South Bay Assemblymember Ash Kalra, which requires contracts to stipulate use of AI-created replicas of performers’ likenesses or voices; and AB 1836, by East Bay Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, which prohibits the use of the likenesses of deceased actors without permission from their estates.
Sunny Gandhi, vice president of political affairs at Encode Justice, a youth-led organization pushing for equitable AI, submitted a letter to Newsom in support of the bill signed by more than 100 youth activists urging its passage.
“Our generation is now experiencing the effects of waiting too long on critical issues like social media, like climate change, like gun violence, and we simply cannot afford to repeat these same mistakes when it comes to generative AI,” Gandhi said. “The stakes are just too high.”
Staff writer Ryan Macasero contributed reporting.