There's No Middle Ground for Gov. Newsom on AI Safety

Governor Gavin Newsom must decide whether to sign California’s SB 1047, which is the most important, serious, and effective AI safety bill ever passed by any American legislative body.

You would think this would be an easy decision for Governor Newsom, since the bill enjoys the support of 77% of California voters and top AI scientists. However, Big Tech campaign donors from Silicon Valley have pressured him to veto the bill. For example, “NetChoice,” one of the most vocal opponents of the bill, is sponsored by Amazon, Google, and Meta – the same companies that would be required to take basic safety precautions if SB 1047 were signed into law.

Newsom has been trying to stake out a ‘moderate’ position to cope with this pressure. In his recent remarks to a tech industry association, he touted the five AI policy bills he has already signed, and then hinted that these five bills might have to be enough. “I can’t solve for everything,” he said. “What can we solve for?”

The problem with Newsom’s argument is that none of the five bills he’s signed address the catastrophic risks that SB 1047 addresses. It’s worthwhile to punish movie producers who make unauthorized digital clones of actors, but that won’t help protect the public against biological weapons or threats to reservoirs and power grids. The Hollywood actors themselves have stepped up to make this point.

Newsom’s logic is particularly disingenuous because one of the major criticisms leveled at SB 1047 was that it focused firmly on catastrophic risks, with little attention paid to other issues like IP and privacy. This is just a natural consequence of how California organizes its legislation – they tend to pass a portfolio of smaller bills, each addressing a single topic. 

SB 1047 is the only serious AI safety bill on Governor Newsom’s desk this year. It’s a good bill, and the arguments against it are easily refuted. Governor Newsom is too smart to take those weak arguments seriously.

If Governor Newsom cares about AI safety, he’ll sign SB 1047. If he vetoes SB 1047, it means he cares more about his Big Tech donors than the public safety of California citizens. 

It’s that simple – there is no middle ground.

The Center for AI Policy (CAIP) strongly encourages Governor Newsom to do the right thing and sign SB 1047 into law.