The California State Assembly has passed the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act (SB 1047).
This legislation, which has generated significant discussion in Silicon Valley and beyond, aims to implement safety protocols for AI companies operating in California. These measures must be in place before the training of advanced foundation models can begin.
Key provisions of the bill include:
- Mechanisms for rapid and complete shutdown of models
- Protections against “unsafe post-training modifications” of models
- Testing procedures to evaluate the risk of models or their derivatives causing “critical harm”
Senator Scott Wiener, who authored SB 1047, stated: “We’ve worked diligently throughout the year with open source advocates, Anthropic, and others to refine and improve this bill. SB 1047 is well-calibrated to address foreseeable AI risks and deserves to be enacted.”
The senator stressed that the bill merely requires large AI laboratories to fulfill their existing commitments to test their advanced models for catastrophic safety risks.
Despite this, the proposed legislation has encountered opposition from various groups, including AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, politicians Zoe Lofgren and Nancy Pelosi, and the California Chamber of Commerce. Critics argue that the bill overly emphasizes catastrophic risks and could disproportionately impact small, open-source AI developers.
In response to these criticisms, several amendments have been made to the original bill:
- Criminal penalties have been replaced with civil penalties
- Enforcement powers granted to California’s attorney general have been limited
- Requirements for joining the “Board of Frontier Models,” established by the bill, have been modified
The next step for SB 1047 is a vote in the State Senate, where it is anticipated to pass. If it does, the bill will be sent to Governor Gavin Newsom, who will have until the end of September to decide on its enactment.
As one of the first significant AI regulations in the US, the passage of SB 1047 could set a precedent for future legislation. The outcome of this bill may have far-reaching implications for the AI industry, potentially influencing the development and deployment of advanced AI models not only in California but across the nation and beyond.
