California legislators are set to vote on a bill as soon as this week that would broadly regulate how artificial intelligence is developed and deployed in California even as a number of tech giants have voiced broad opposition.
Here is background on the bill, known as SB 1047, and why it has faced backlash from Silicon Valley technologists and some lawmakers:
WHAT DOES THE BILL DO?
Advanced by State Senator Scott Wiener, a Democrat, the proposal would mandate safety testing for many of the most advanced AI models that cost more than $100 million to develop or those that require a defined amount of computing power. Developers of AI software operating in the state would also need to outline methods for turning off the AI models if they go awry, effectively a kill switch.
WHAT HAVE LAWMAKERS SAID?
SB 1047 has already passed the state Senate by a 32-1 vote. Last week it passed the state Assembly appropriations committee, setting up a vote by the full Assembly. If it passes by the end of the legislative session on Aug. 31, it would advance to Governor Gavin Newsom to sign or veto by Sept. 30.
Wiener, who represents San Francisco, home to OpenAI and many of the startups developing the powerful software, has said legislation is necessary to protect the public before advances in AI become either unwieldy or uncontrollable.
However, a group of California Congressional Democrats oppose the bill, including San Francisco’s Nancy Pelosi; Ro Khanna, whose congressional district encompasses much of Silicon Valley; and Zoe Lofgren, from San Jose.
Pelosi this week called SB 1047 ill-informed and said it may cause more harm than good. In an open letter last week, the Democrats said the bill could drive developers from the state and threaten so-called open-source AI models, which rely on code that is freely available for anyone to use or modify.
