California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed SB 1047, a high-profile bill that would regulate the development of AI.
The bill, authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, would hold companies that develop AI models responsible for implementing safety protocols to prevent “significant harm.” This rule only applies to models that cost at least $100 million and use 10^26 FLOPS (Floating Point Operations, a measure of computation) during training.
SB 1047 is expected to appeal to many in Silicon Valley, including companies like OpenAI, prominent technologists like Meta's chief AI scientist Yan LeCun, and even Democratic politicians like U.S. Congressman Ro Khanna. was opposed by the people of However, the bill had been amended based on proposals from AI company Anthropic and other opponents.
While the California Legislature passed SB 1047, opponents were hopeful that Newsom would veto it — and indeed, Newsom already has reservations about the bill. It was showing.
In today's veto statement, Newsom said, “While well-intentioned, SB 1047 does not consider whether AI systems are being deployed in high-risk environments and whether they involve critical decision-making or the use of sensitive data.” I haven't.'' Instead, the bill would apply strict standards to even the most basic functions as long as large systems deploy them. We do not believe this is the best approach to protecting the public from the real threats posed by technology. ”
Nancy Pelosi, a lawmaker and longtime House speaker, also criticized the bill, calling it “well-intentioned but ill-informed.” After the veto was announced, she called on Newsom to “recognize the opportunity and responsibility we all share to enable small entrepreneurs and academia to prevail, not big tech companies.” “I'm doing it,” he praised.
In the same announcement, Newsom's office noted that Newsom has signed 17 bills related to the regulation and deployment of AI technology in the past 30 days, including Fei-Fei Li, Tino Cuellar, and Jennifer.・He stated that he had “requested cooperation'' from experts such as Tour Chase. California is developing practical guardrails for implementing GenAI. (Lee, known as the “Godmother of AI,” previously said SB 1047 would “harm our budding AI ecosystem.”)
Meanwhile, Wiener issued a statement saying the veto was “for everyone who believes in public safety and well-being and the oversight of large corporations that make important decisions that affect the future of our planet.” It's a setback.” He also claimed that the debate surrounding the bill “dramatically advances the issue of AI safety on the international stage.”