Gavin Newsom Vetoes AI Safety Bill: “I Do Not Believe This Is The Best Approach”

Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a major AI safety bill today, saying that it applied “stringent standards to even the most basic functions — so long as a large system deploys it.”

“I do not believe this is the best approach to protecting the public from real threats posed by the technology,” Newsom said in his veto statement.

S.B. 1047 would have required AI developers in the state to implement security precautions before training their models. OpenAI had warned of the impact of the bill on the industry’s growth, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) came out against it.

Celebrities including Jane Fonda, Shonda Rhimes and Pedro Pascal had urged Newsom to sign it, and its lead author, State Sen. Scott Weiner, says that the bill is “a light touch, commonsense measure that codifies commitments that the largest AI companies have already voluntarily made.”

In a statement, Weiner said, “This veto is a missed opportunity for California to once again lead on innovative tech regulation — just as we did around data privacy and net neutrality — and we are all less safe as a result.

Newsom said that he would continue to work with the “legislature, federal partners, technology

experts, ethicists, and academia, to find the appropriate path forward, including legislation and regulation.”

“Safety protocols must be adopted,” Newsom wrote. “Proactive guardrails .should be implemented, and severe consequences for bad actors must be clear and enforceable. I do not agree, however, that to keep the public safe, we must settle for a solution that is not informed by an empirical trajectory analysis of Al systems and capabilities. Ultimately, any framework for effectively regulating Al needs to keep pace with the technology itself.”

Earlier this month, Newsom signed a series of other AI bills, including ones that give performers more rights over their image and likeness, and others designed to curb the use of deepfakes in election campaigns.