California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday vetoed a hotly contested AI safety bill after the tech industry raised objections, saying it could drive AI companies out of the state and stifle innovation.

Newsom said the bill “does not take into account whether an AI system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making, or uses sensitive data” and would apply “strict standards to even the most basic functions — as long as a large system deploys it .”

Newsom said he has asked leading experts in generative artificial intelligence to help California “develop feasible guardrails” that are focused “on the development of empirical, science-based trajectory analysis.” He also ordered government agencies to expand their risk assessment of potential catastrophic events associated with the use of artificial intelligence.

Generative artificial intelligence – which can create text, photos and videos in response to open-ended queries – has fueled excitement as well as fears that it could make some jobs obsolete, overturn elections and potentially overpower people and have catastrophic effects.

The bill’s author, Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, said the legislation is necessary to protect the public before advances in artificial intelligence become unwieldy or uncontrolled. The artificial intelligence industry is growing rapidly in California, and some leaders have questioned the future of those companies in the state if the bill becomes law.

Wiener said Sunday that the veto makes California less safe and means “companies that want to create extremely powerful technology face no binding restrictions.” He added that “voluntary industry commitments are not enforceable and rarely work well for the public.”

“We can’t afford to wait for a major disaster to happen before we take action to protect the public,” Newsom said, but added that he disagreed that “we have to settle for a solution that is not based on empirical analysis of AI system trajectories and capabilities. “

Newsom said he would work with the Legislature on AI legislation during the next session. It comes as legislation in the US Congress to put in place safeguards is stalled and the Biden administration is advancing regulatory proposals to oversee artificial intelligence.

Newsom said that “a California-only approach may be warranted — particularly if Congress fails to take federal action.”

The Chamber of Progress, a tech industry coalition, praised Newsom’s veto, saying “California’s tech economy has always thrived on competition and openness.”

Among other things, the measure would mandate security testing for many of the most advanced AI models that cost more than $100 million (roughly 838 million rupees) to develop or that require a certain amount of computing power. AI software developers working in the state should also describe methods to turn off the AI ​​model, which is effectively an off switch.

The law would establish a state entity that would oversee the development of so-called “Frontier Models” that exceed the capabilities of the most advanced existing models.

The bill met with strong opposition from a large number of groups. Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Meta Platforms, all of which develop generative AI models, have expressed concern about the proposal.

Some Democrats in the US Congress, including Representative Nancy Pelosi, also opposed it. Proponents included Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who also runs an artificial intelligence company called xAI. Amazon-backed Anthropic said the benefits of the law are likely to outweigh the costs, though it added that there are still some aspects that seem worrisome or ambiguous.

Separately, Newsom signed legislation requiring the state to assess the potential threats generative AI poses to California’s critical infrastructure.

The state is analyzing the risks of the energy infrastructure and previously convened providers of the electric power sector, and will undertake the same risk assessment with water infrastructure providers in the coming year, and later with the communications sector, Newsom said.

© Thomson Reuters 2024

(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)