{"slug": "is-an-ai-kill-switch-a-real-thing", "title": "Is an AI kill switch a real thing?", "summary": "California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order on Sept. 18 directing an expert-led panel to reinforce the state's AI safety laws and explore an \"emergency shut off\" for frontier models, described in the order as an \"AI kill switch.\" The order accelerates plans for third-party safety evaluations and mandatory risk reporting, mirroring the bipartisan AI Kill Switch Act introduced in July by two congressional representatives that would give the Department of Homeland Security authority to slow or halt AI systems deemed capable of \"catastrophic harm.\" UC Berkeley Center for Human-Compatible AI executive director Mark Nitzberg told Scientific American a universal AI kill switch is \"more of an aspiration than a reality,\" while computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton told CNN he did not think a kill switch would be an effective long-term solution.", "body_md": "# Is an AI 'kill switch' a real thing?\n\n[Chase DiBenedetto](https://mashable.com/author/chase-dibenedetto)\n\n[Read Full Bio](https://mashable.com/author/chase-dibenedetto)\n\nAs concerns about AI's capabilities [reach a critical mass](https://mashable.com/tech/ai-apocalypse-reached-critical-mass), California Gov. Gavin Newsom is accelerating the state's plan to curb the development of the technology.  \n\nIn a new [executive order](https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/FINAL-N-9-26-AI-EO-9.18.26-SIGNED.pdf) issued today (Sept. 18), Newsom calls for the creation of an expert-led panel tasked with \"reinforcing and strengthening\" the state's AI safety laws, including accelerating plans to enforce third-party safety evaluations and mandatory risk reporting.  \n\nThe order also directs the group to explore the possibility of an \"emergency shut off\" for frontier models, \"otherwise known as an 'AI kill switch,'\" Newsom said in a [video](https://x.com/GavinNewsom/status/2100963318269960611?s=20) posted to his X account, \"which means a lot of things, depending on who you talk to.\"\n\n**You May Also Like**\n\n## What is an AI kill switch?\n\nNewsom's correct. The idea of a universal off button to stop increasingly powerful AI agents from \"going rogue\" has been percolating in legislative conversations and online discourse for the last year. The term has become synonymous with a growing push for AI safety regulation, spearheaded in part by [AI's own creators](https://mashable.com/tech/anthropic-ceo-dario-amodei-open-letter-ai-slow-down). \n\nBut what the kill switch would actually look like — specifically, the means through which it would halt AI en masse and who its chosen keeper would be — is still widely up for debate.\n\nIn July, two congressional representatives introduced the bipartisan [AI Kill Switch Act](https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/reps-lieu-and-moran-introduce-bill-require-kill-switch-ai-systems-can), which would give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) authority to slow down or halt an AI system deemed capable of causing \"catastrophic harm.\" The bill would also require developers to institute mechanisms to \"throttle, suspend, or fully shut down a covered AI system\" — Newsom's order seeks to pass a similar mandate. \n\nWhile not required under U.S. law, most individual AI labs have their own means to halt rogue systems, governed by humans and the company's own safety structures and alignment teams.\n\nSome proposals for the development of \"kill switches\" simply urge labs to have these processes evaluated by external safety auditors. Others seek to institute industry safety standards that would *mandate* emergency shut-offs, governed by the federal government. An increasingly vocal group of doomsdayers demands a sweeping fail-safe for all AI. \n\n[Terms of Use](https://www.ziffdavis.com/terms-of-use)and\n\n[Privacy Policy](https://www.ziffdavis.com/ztg-privacy-policy).\n\nIn an interview with [Scientific American](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-would-an-ai-kill-switch-do/), Mark Nitzberg, executive director of the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Human-Compatible AI, called a universal AI kill switch \"more of an aspiration than a reality.” \n\nComputer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, AKA the \"Godfather of AI,\" told [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/?iid=vertical-video_exit&refresh=1) he didn't think a kill switch would be an effective longterm solution for those who fear AI superintelligence. \n\n        [This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.](https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/2100963318269960611)\n    \n\nAt large, policy experts, including the [Center for Democracy and Technology](https://cdt.org/insights/getting-third-party-ai-assessment-right/), have questioned the effectiveness of what they call \"binary\" safety regulations, or checklist style proposals that focus on specific technical details. AI companies can easily game such terms, and single mechanisms like kill switches quickly become outdated as the tech outpaces its makers, they say. \n\nAnd because developers would be taking a financial and reputational hit should they choose to pull the lever on an entire system, effective policies mandating kill switches would need to incentivize them to act.\n\n## Why a kill switch is more complicated than you may think\n\nFor the kinds of AI systems that now build, run, and influence online spaces, an AI kill switch [may not be the cure all](https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-kill-switch-rogue-superintelligent-tech-leaders-2026-9) they're made out to be, experts and AI leaders like Anthropic co-founder Jac Clark warn. \n\nAI systems aren't contained to a single physical environment, for one, like a computer you can just turn off. Sometimes, shutting down a system's servers are enough. Sometimes it's not. Rogue AI agents may need to be \"hunted down\" on the open internet to pinpoint and then contain its operators, Michael Vermeer, a senior physical scientist at the RAND Corporation, suggested to Scientific American.\n\nAnd even then, it may require a coordinated *global* response to isolate, stop, and then degrade the AI to a manageable point. \n\nBeyond the technical consideration, kill switches stir up questions of authority: *Who gets to make the call? Is it in the hands of the original developer? Is it an industry process? Should an agency like homeland security give the order?* \n\nAI is not a human to be reasoned with. The internet doesn't have doors to lock, nor does it innately understand political borders (or, anything, to be fair). The technology, often dangerously anthropomorphized, is ultimately directed and influenced by humans — and so is its demise.\n\nStill, politicians and industry onlookers are urging technologists to consider the option. The calls have become more pressing as individuals warn of a potential \"doomsday\" scenario in which AI becomes sentient and maliciously determined to thwart the human race — never mind all of the ethical questions it has already stirred.\n\nChase joined Mashable's Social Good team in 2020, covering online stories about digital activism, climate justice, accessibility, and media representation. Her work also captures how these conversations manifest in politics, popular culture, and fandom. Sometimes she's very funny.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/is-an-ai-kill-switch-a-real-thing", "canonical_source": "https://mashable.com/tech/ai-kill-switch-newsom", "published_at": "2026-09-18 20:31:33+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-18 20:54:25.656683+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "ai-safety", "artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["Gavin Newsom", "California", "AI Kill Switch Act", "Department of Homeland Security", "Mark Nitzberg", "University of California, Berkeley Center for Human-Compatible AI", "Geoffrey Hinton", "Center for Democracy and Technology"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/is-an-ai-kill-switch-a-real-thing", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/is-an-ai-kill-switch-a-real-thing.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/is-an-ai-kill-switch-a-real-thing.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/is-an-ai-kill-switch-a-real-thing.jsonld"}}