{"slug": "eff-statement-on-california-governor-s-executive-order-on-ai", "title": "EFF Statement on California Governor's Executive Order on AI", "summary": "The Electronic Frontier Foundation welcomed California Gov. Gavin Newsom's executive order on AI as a start toward addressing real, present-day harms, while cautioning that the most urgent concerns are biased algorithmic decision-making in employment and government benefits, AI-powered surveillance such as Flock cameras, and artificially inflated personalized pricing — not sci-fi rogue super-intelligence scenarios. EFF said it supports expanding reporting requirements under SB 53 (2025) for loss-of-control incidents alongside third-party investigations, and urged the Newsom administration to make those investigations available to smaller developers. EFF also warned that the effectiveness of kill switches in advanced AI systems remains an area of active research and that government-controlled kill switches risk being used as retaliation against protected speech, citing the Trump Administration's retaliatory actions against Anthropic earlier this year.", "body_md": "California Gov. Gavin Newsom's [executive order](https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/18/governor-newsom-issues-executive-order-to-accelerate-independent-oversight-and-advance-the-creation-of-an-ai-kill-switch/) is an opportunity for a needed, thoughtful conversation about artificial intelligence and its potential harms. Everyday Californians are feeling real anxiety about the risks of artificial intelligence, and as an organization that works to ensure technology empowers people, EFF welcomes this order as a way for the state of California to lead a much-needed dialogue that addresses these concerns. \n\nNonetheless, the most immediate and current concerns with this technology are not about sci-fi scenarios concerning rogue super-intelligence. They are happening right now through biased [algorithmic decision-making](https://www.eff.org/pages/algorithmic-decision-making#main-content) for [employment](http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/09/yes-californias-no-robo-bosses-act) or [government benefits](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/09/new-records-reveal-problems-medicares-ai-prior-authorization-experiment), [AI-powered surveillance systems](https://www.eff.org/pages/ai-and-surveillance#main-content) such as [Flock cameras](https://sls.eff.org/technologies/automated-license-plate-readers-alprs), and [artificially inflated personalized pricing](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/californias-bill-ban-surveillance-pricing). People want state and federal leaders to act, and we urge Gov. Newsom to develop thoughtful policies to address those concerns. Today’s EO is a good start. \n\nTo that end, EFF supports the focus on expanding the reporting requirements under [SB 53 (2025)](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB53) for loss-of-control incidents, alongside third-party investigations. We urge the administration to consider how to make these third-party investigations available for smaller developers. As the Government Operations Agency prepares its recommendations for the governor, we urge leaders to also realize that the effectiveness of kill switches in advanced AI systems remains an area of active research. As such, they should ensure that - as we’ve [previously mentioned](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/09/eff-lawmakers-ground-ai-cybersecurity-rules-best-practices) - any technology regulation targeting cybersecurity practices at AI labs must be [careful, precise, and practical](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/07/generative-ai-policy-must-be-precise-careful-and-practical-how-cut-through-hype). Moreover, we also caution that government-controlled kill switches run the risk of being used as a form of retaliation against protected speech, as demonstrated by the Trump Administration’s [retaliatory actions against Anthropic](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/09/judge-rules-dod-unlawfully-retaliated-against-anthropic) earlier this year.\n\nUltimately, true safety requires California to focus on concrete, immediate, and urgent harms of AI technologies by ensuring that algorithmic decision-making in both the government and private sectors respects people’s rights and well-being. We urge Gov. Newsom and the state of California to develop thoughtful policy in collaboration with those most at risk of harm to address these and other concerns.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/eff-statement-on-california-governor-s-executive-order-on-ai", "canonical_source": "https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/09/eff-statement-california-governors-executive-order-ai", "published_at": "2026-09-18 23:25:44+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-19 00:55:08.841905+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "ai-safety", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["Electronic Frontier Foundation", "Gavin Newsom", "California", "SB 53", "Government Operations Agency", "Anthropic", "Trump Administration", "Flock"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/eff-statement-on-california-governor-s-executive-order-on-ai", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/eff-statement-on-california-governor-s-executive-order-on-ai.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/eff-statement-on-california-governor-s-executive-order-on-ai.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/eff-statement-on-california-governor-s-executive-order-on-ai.jsonld"}}