More than 100 current and former employees from major artificial intelligence companies have urged California Governor Gavin Newsom to sign a new AI regulatory bill that has sparked debate within the tech and policy communities.
The open letter, which includes signatures from workers at OpenAI, Anthropic, Google’s DeepMind, Meta, and xAI, expresses concerns over the development of certain AI models.
The proposed legislation, known as SB 1047, would require AI companies to conduct safety testing on their systems before releasing them to the public. It also holds companies accountable for catastrophic damages caused by their models and provides whistleblower protections for tech workers.
In the letter, the signers warned that the most powerful AI models could soon pose serious risks, such as the proliferation of biological weapons and cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. They emphasized the feasibility and necessity of implementing reasonable safeguards to test the potential dangers posed by cutting-edge AI technologies.
Axios was the first to report on the letter’s content.
SB 1047 has already passed both houses of the California state legislature. Now, it awaits Governor Newsom’s decision, who must sign it into law or veto it by September 30. The governor has not yet revealed his stance on the bill, facing strong lobbying efforts from both sides of the debate.
Supporters of the legislation argue that the absence of regulatory measures could lead to disastrous consequences. Elon Musk, founder of xAI, has publicly endorsed the need for AI regulation. Anthropic, a competitor of OpenAI, also backs the bill and has found support from tech giants like Amazon and Alphabet.
Prominent AI pioneers Yoshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton previously conveyed to California leaders that the government’s decisions regarding the development and deployment of powerful AI systems will have lasting impacts on the current and future generations, both in California and globally.