OpenAI, Anthropic, Google employees come out in support of California AI bill

More than 100 current and former employees of the largest artificial intelligence companies are calling on California Gov. Gavin Newsom to pass the state’s new AI regulation bill that has divided the tech and policy world.

The letter, signed by current and former staff from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google’s DeepMind, Meta, and xAI, expresses concern over the development of certain AI models. The bill, S.B. 1047, requires AI companies to test their systems for safety before shipping them to the public. It also holds companies liable for catastrophic harms caused by their models and allows whistleblower protections to tech workers.

“We believe that the most powerful AI models may soon pose severe risks, such as expanded access to biological weapons and cyberattacks on critical infrastructure,” the letter said. “It is feasible and appropriate for frontier AI companies to test whether the most powerful AI models can cause severe harms, and for these companies to implement reasonable safeguards against such risks.”

Axios first reported the statement.

S.B. 1047 has already passed both the State Assembly and the Senate. It’s now up to Newsom to either sign the bill into law or veto it by Sept. 30. The governor hasn’t indicated his position on the legislation, and he’s facing intense lobbying from either side.

Supporters of the bill argue that AI advancement could have catastrophic implications without guardrails. Elon Musk, who founded xAI, came out in support of the regulation on AI. OpenAI rival Anthropic, which is backed by Amazon and Alphabet, has also offered support for the bill. 

“The choices the government makes now about how to develop and deploy these powerful AI systems may have profound consequences for current and future generations of Californians, as well as those around the world,” AI pioneers Yoshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton wrote in a previous open letter to California leaders.

Critics of the bill, including OpenAI, argue that it could harm AI advancements. Rep. Nancy Pelosi and San Francisco Mayor London Breed have also come out against the bill, arguing it isn’t the best path forward when it comes to regulation. Pelosi said it was “well-intentioned but ill informed,” and would hamper innovation, while Breed argued that more work needs to be done in order to find a solution that doesn’t “add unnecessary bureaucracy.”

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