What is SB 1047, why does it matter?

SB (Senate Bill) 1047 is a bill that has now been passed by the California State Assembly and Senate. It aims to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) by creating and enforcing guidelines for AI models offered by companies in the state. 

This means that all of the Silicon Valley tech companies now employing AI will be affected – therefore, the fate of these leading companies, and with them the pioneering development of AI, now rests in the hands of California Governor Gavin Newsom. The entire world watches to see what he will do next.

What specifically does it do?

Among other things, the bill protects tech company employees who want to warn the public or the Attorney General about potential threats posed by AI. It also forces tech companies to test the safety of their systems before releasing it to the public. It also allows the Attorney General to sue AI lawmakers should a need arise.

However, SB 1047 used to be more extreme, initially establishing a state agency to review safety plans. It has since been watered down because of lobbying from the tech community, including companies like OpenAI and Facebook.

Who controls what happens?

The bill was intially proposed by California state Senator Scott Wiener, and passed the Senate 32 to 1 and the California State Assembly 48 to 16. Now, it is left up to Gavin Newsom to pass it into law.

Who supports it?

Newsom faces pressure from two opposing but equally well-meaning sides. 

One side consits of AI safety groups and certain influential figures in the tech community including Elon Musk, Georffery Hinton, and Yoshua Bengio, who argue that holding AI companies liable for harm their models may cause will protect the public from a very powerful new technology and encourage caution in the development of these models. Hinton and Bengio wrote a personal letter to Newsom imploring him to pass the bill.

The other side consists of leading AI companies like OpenAI and Facebook, as well as influential individuals including members of Congress. Nancy Pelosi wrote to Newsom asking him not to pass the bill so as not to curb the development of new AI systems. It is in wake of such pressure that Senator Weiner watered down the bill.

Still, the world watches to see whether Newsom will pass the new, slightly less harsh bill, or not. Silicon Valley and tech companies around the world hold their breath to see what could happen next, and wonder how dramatically their work could change based on his decision.