California Governor Gavin Newsom is under fire from both AI safety advocates and Hollywood actors alike after vetoing a bill aimed at regulating the safety of advanced artificial intelligence models.
Senator Scott Wiener, who had championed the legislation as a step toward ensuring public safety in the face of rapidly advancing AI technologies, took to X (formerly Twitter) to voice his disappointment. “This veto is a missed opportunity for California to once again lead on innovative tech regulation — just as we did around data privacy and net neutrality — and we are all less safe as a result,” Wiener wrote.
He underscored the potential dangers of leaving AI safety measures in the hands of private companies, warning that voluntary industry commitments are “not enforceable and rarely work out well for the public.”
Wiener further argued that without binding regulations, companies developing powerful AI models are essentially free to operate without oversight, creating a “troubling reality” for both the public and policymakers. “The companies developing advanced AI systems acknowledge that the risks these models present to the public are real and rapidly increasing,” Wiener said, adding that “we cannot afford to wait for a major catastrophe to occur before taking action.”
Introduced by Wiener in February 2024, Senate Bill (SB) 1047 had gained widespread support from a broad coalition of labor unions, AI safety advocates, Hollywood figures, and several AI industry leaders including computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, often dubbed the “Godfather of AI.” However, opposition from major tech companies, including Google, Meta and Zapier, and concerns over its impact on innovation led to the governor’s decision to reject the bill, sparking significant backlash.
The decision to veto SB 1047 has prompted an outcry from AI safety advocates, who see the move as bowing down to the tech industry’s interests. Sneha Revanur, founder of Encode Justice, a youth-led organization focused on AI safety and co-sponsor of the bill, described the veto as a “painful and disappointing” blow to the movement for responsible AI regulation. “It sends a signal that the tech lobby’s chokehold is far tighter than the people’s,” Revanur said, pointing out that SB 1047 was supported by 77 percent of Californians according to recent polls.
Revanur also noted the opposition the bill faced, even from national political figures like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who publicly opposed the measure. “The anti-1047 machinery has been formidable,” Revanur said, adding: “This is just an opening salvo. Next time, our movement will win. In some ways, it already has — we’ve catapulted the conversation about AI policy into the spotlight.”
On September 24, more than 125 Hollywood actors, directors, producers, and others in the entertainment industry signed an open letter to Governor Newsom urging him to sign the bill. At the time, SAG-AFTRA president Joely Fisher said in a statement sent to Newsweek: “Now comes the existential part… our community also cares deeply about safe and responsible AI development, so many of us have come together to urge the Governor to sign this one for humanity and his legacy.”
Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a signatory of the open letter and outspoken advocate for AI, safety took to social media to criticize the vetoing of the bill. “AI can and will be used for so much good,” he wrote, “but just like we’ve seen with social media, there could also be seriously damaging side effects if governments don’t lay down some rules.”
Gordon-Levitt added that he had hoped California would lead the way on AI regulation with SB 1047, but remained optimistic about future legislative efforts, saying: “Next time AI legislation like this is up for a vote, we’ll be back in force to get it over the finish line.”
Actor and activist Mark Ruffalo echoed these sentiments, drawing comparisons between Newsom’s veto and other failed attempts to regulate industries like fossil fuels and chemicals: “Like it or not, Newsom’s explanation echoes the influence fossil fuel industries have had over politicians in the past, or the chemical industry’s method of delaying regulation of ‘forever chemicals; by claiming they were an ‘economic driver.’ This is dangerous thinking and has led to catastrophic outcomes time and again.”
“This bill was unique in addressing catastrophic risks to all of us from AI models, and it sought to regulate the entire industry,” Ruffalo added.
SB 1047 would have imposed new safety requirements on developers of so-called “Frontier Models,” which are AI systems with capabilities exceeding the most advanced models currently available. Specifically, the bill would have required safety testing for AI models costing over $100 million to develop or those utilizing a significant amount of computing power. It also mandated the implementation of a “kill switch” to shut down models in the event of dangerous or unintended consequences.
Despite these provisions, Governor Newsom rejected the bill, citing concerns that it would apply overly stringent regulations even to low-risk AI applications. In his veto message, Newsom said that while the bill was “well-intentioned,” it “does not take into account whether an AI system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making, or the use of sensitive data.”
While Newsom stated that “we cannot afford to wait for a major catastrophe to occur before taking action to protect the public. California will not abandon its responsibility. Safety protocols must be adopted,” he added that California needs to develop a more nuanced regulatory framework based on empirical evidence of AI risks before implementing sweeping measures.
“I do not agree, however, that to keep the public safe, we must settle for a solution that is not informed by an empirical trajectory analysis of Al systems and capabilities. Ultimately, any framework for effectively regulating Al needs to keep pace with the technology itself,” Newsom said in an official statement.
Despite the veto, Governor Newsom said his administration remains committed to AI safety. On the same day he vetoed SB 1047, Newsom announced a new initiative to develop “workable guardrails” for AI, enlisting a panel of experts to help shape California’s approach.
Among the experts are Dr. Fei-Fei Li, co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (known as ‘the Godmother of AI’), and Jennifer Tour Chayes, Dean of UC Berkeley’s College of Computing, Data Science, and Society.
Newsom also signed 17 other bills related to AI regulation in recent weeks, making California’s legislative package on AI one of the most comprehensive in the country. These measures include requirements for AI-generated content to be watermarked, protections for children and workers, and efforts to combat deepfakes and AI-generated misinformation. In his announcement, Newsom stated, “We have a responsibility to protect Californians from potentially catastrophic risks of GenAI deployment.”
Newsweek reached out to the offices of Senator Newsom and Senator Wiener for comment.
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