California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed what would have become one of the most comprehensive policies governing the safety of artificial intelligence in the US.
The bill would have been among the first to hold AI developers accountable for any severe harm caused by their technologies. It drew fierce criticism from some prominent Democrats and major tech firms, including ChatGPT creator OpenAI and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, who warned it could stall innovation in the state.
Newsom described the legislation as “well-intentioned” but said in a statement that it would have applied “stringent standards to even the most basic functions”. Regulation should be based on “empirical evidence and science”, he said, pointing to his own executive order on AI and other bills he has signed that regulate the technology around known risks such as deepfakes.
The debate around California’s SB 1047 bill highlights the challenge that lawmakers around the world are facing in controlling the risks of AI while also supporting the emerging technology. US policymakers have yet to pass any comprehensive legislation around the technology since the release of ChatGPT two years ago touched off a global generative AI boom.
Democratic California Senator Scott Wiener, who introduced the bill, called Newsom’s veto a “setback for everyone who believes in oversight of massive corporations”. In a statement posted on X, Wiener said, “We are all less safe as a result.”