On Friday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new executive order intended to increase California's oversight on artificial intelligence development. The order focuses on two laws designed to keep AI in check and also calls for experts to convene for the purpose of providing further recommendations.
As KPIX reports, Newsom's executive order gives state officials and outside experts until November 16 to offer suggested revisions to current California law as it relates to artificial intelligence.
While the order doesn't explicitly stipulate that AI models come equipped with a "kill switch" capable of shutting them off in an emergency, it does call for a California AI panel to form and study the possibility. If implemented, an emergency shutoff option would theoretically allow operators to disable a rogue model as a safety precaution. Newsom's order also requires the panel to consider the idea of installing independent monitors within AI labs for the purpose of conducting regular audits. In a statement announcing the signing, Newsom underscored the urgency of the issue at hand.
"We're not waiting to act," Newsom said. "We're going to speed up our work on substantial and responsible AI oversight before it's too late."
Newsom's actions follow a headline-filled month for AI's biggest players.
Ten days ago, as SFist previously reported, Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger resigned from his post while warning that AI had "a 10% chance to kill all humans" at some point in the future. By the following week, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had shared a new blog calling for a global slowdown on AI development. It was quickly co-signed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and X owner Elon Musk.
Earlier this week, SFist detailed plans for a "Stop the AI Race" march that took place on Thursday morning to coincide with the final day of Dreamforce. SFist also reported on one voice missing from the unified front advocating for an AI slowdown: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Related: You Know Who Doesn't Want the AI Race to Slow Down For His Company? Mark Zuckerberg