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This is not California state Senator Scott Wiener\u2019s first attempt at addressing the dangers of AI.<\/p>\n
In 2024, Silicon Valley mounted a fierce campaign<\/a> against his controversial AI safety bill, SB 1047, which would have made tech companies liable for the potential harms of their AI systems. Tech leaders warned that it would stifle America\u2019s AI boom. Governor Gavin Newsom ultimately vetoed the bill<\/a>, echoing similar concerns, and a popular AI hacker house promptly threw<\/a> a \u201cSB 1047 Veto Party.\u201d One attendee told me, \u201cThank god, AI is still legal.\u201d<\/p>\n Now Wiener has returned with a new AI safety bill, SB 53, <\/a>which sits on Governor Newsom\u2019s desk awaiting his signature or veto sometime in the next few weeks. This time around, the bill is much more popular or at least, Silicon Valley doesn\u2019t seem to be at war with it.<\/p>\n Anthropic outright endorsed<\/a> SB 53 earlier this month. Meta spokesperson Jim Cullinan tells TechCrunch that the company supports AI regulation that balances guardrails with innovation and says \u201cSB 53 is a step in that direction,\u201d though there are areas for improvement. <\/p>\n Former White House AI policy advisor Dean Ball tells TechCrunch that SB 53 is a \u201cvictory for reasonable voices,\u201d and thinks there\u2019s a strong chance Governor Newsom signs it.<\/p>\n If signed, SB 53 would impose some of the nation\u2019s first safety reporting requirements on AI giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, and Google \u2014 companies that today face no obligation to reveal how they test their AI systems. Many AI labs voluntarily publish safety reports explaining how their AI models could be used to create bioweapons and other dangers, but they do this at will and they\u2019re not always consistent<\/a>.<\/p>\n The bill<\/a> requires leading AI labs \u2014 specifically those making more than $500 million in revenue \u2014 to publish safety reports for their most capable AI models. Much like SB 1047, the bill specifically focuses on the worst kinds of AI risks: their ability to contribute to human deaths, cyberattacks, and chemical weapons. Governor Newsom is considering several other bills that address other types of AI risks, such as engagement-optimization techniques<\/a> in AI companions.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> SB 53 also creates protected channels for employees working at AI labs to report safety concerns to government officials, and establishes a state-operated cloud computing cluster, CalCompute, to provide AI research resources beyond the big tech companies.<\/p>\n One reason SB 53 may be more popular than SB 1047 is that it\u2019s less severe. SB 1047 also would have made AI companies liable for any harms caused by their AI models, whereas SB 53 focuses more on requiring self-reporting and transparency. SB 53 also narrowly applies to the world\u2019s largest tech companies, rather than startups.<\/p>\n But many in the tech industry still believe states should leave AI regulation up to the federal government. In a recent letter <\/a>to Governor Newsom, OpenAI argued that AI labs should only have to comply with federal standards \u2014 which is a funny thing to say to a state governor. The venture firm Andreessen Horowitz wrote a recent blog post<\/a> vaguely suggesting that some bills in California could violate the Constitution\u2019s dormant Commerce Clause, which prohibits states from unfairly limiting interstate commerce.<\/p>\n Senator Wiener addresses these concerns: he lacks faith in the federal government to pass meaningful AI safety regulation, so states need to step up. In fact, Wiener thinks the Trump administration has been captured by the tech industry, and that recent federal efforts to block all state AI laws are a form of Trump \u201crewarding his funders.\u201d<\/p>\n The Trump administration has made a notable shift away from the Biden administration\u2019s focus on AI safety, replacing it with an emphasis on growth. Shortly after taking office, Vice President J.D. Vance appeared at an AI conference<\/a> in Paris and said: \u201cI\u2019m not here this morning to talk about AI safety, which was the title of the conference a couple of years ago. I\u2019m here to talk about AI opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n Silicon Valley has applauded this shift, exemplified by Trump\u2019s AI Action Plan, which removed barriers<\/a> to building out the infrastructure needed to train and serve AI models. Today, Big Tech CEOs are regularly seen dining at the White House<\/a> or announcing hundred-billion-dollar data centers<\/a> alongside President Trump.<\/p>\n Senator Wiener thinks it\u2019s critical for California to lead the nation on AI safety, but without choking off innovation.<\/p>\n I recently interviewed Senator Wiener to discuss his years at the negotiating table with Silicon Valley and why he\u2019s so focused on AI safety bills. Our conversation has been edited lightly for clarity and brevity. My questions are in bold, and his answers are not.<\/p>\n Maxwell Zeff: Senator Wiener, I interviewed you when SB 1047 was sitting on Governor Newsom\u2019s desk. Talk to me about the journey you\u2019ve been on to regulate AI safety in the last few years<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Scott Wiener: It\u2019s been a roller coaster, an incredible learning experience, and just really rewarding. We\u2019ve been able to help elevate this issue [of AI safety], not just in California, but in the national and international discourse.<\/p>\n We have this incredibly powerful new technology that is changing the world. How do we make sure it benefits humanity in a way where we reduce the risk? How do we promote innovation, while also being very mindful of public health and public safety. It\u2019s an important \u2014 and in some ways, existential \u2014 conversation about the future. SB 1047, and now SB 53, have helped to foster that conversation about safe innovation.<\/p>\n In the last 20 years of technology, what have you learned about the importance of laws that can hold Silicon Valley to account?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m the guy who represents San Francisco, the beating heart of AI innovation. I\u2019m immediately north of Silicon Valley itself, so we\u2019re right here in the middle of it all. But we\u2019ve also seen how the large tech companies \u2014 some of the wealthiest companies in world history \u2014 have been able to stop federal regulation.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n