AI safety bill passes California Legislature

Source: Los Angeles Times

“This is a tough call and will make some people upset, but, all things considered, I think California should probably pass the SB 1047 AI safety bill,” Musk wrote on X on Monday. “For over 20 years, I have been an advocate for AI regulation, just as we regulate any product/technology that is a potential risk to the public.”

The bill, SB 1047, would require developers of future advanced AI models to create guardrails to prevent the technology from being misused to conduct cyberattacks on critical infrastructure such as power plants. Developers would need to submit their safety plans to the attorney general, who could hold them liable if AI models they directly control were to cause harm or imminent threat to public safety.

But it was opposed by Democratic congressional leaders as well as prominent AI players including Meta and OpenAI, who raised concerns about whether the legislation would stifle innovation in California.

“I worry that technology companies will not solve the significant risks associated with AI on their own because they’re locked in their race for market share and profit maximization,” Yoshua Bengio, a professor at Université de Montréal and the founder and scientific director of Mila — Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, said at a media briefing this week. “We simply can’t let them grade their own homework and hope for the best.”

Read the full article here.