CALIFORNIA ADVANCES LANDMARK LEGISLATION TO REGULATE LARGE AI MODELS

Efforts in California to establish first-in-the-nation safety measures for the largest artificial intelligence systems cleared an important vote Wednesday that could pave the way for U.S. regulations on the technology evolving at warp speed.

The proposal, aiming to reduce potential risks created by AI, would require companies to test their models and publicly disclose their safety protocols to prevent the models from being manipulated to, for example, wipe out the state’s electric grid or help build chemical weapons — scenarios experts say could be possible in the future with such rapid advancements in the industry.

The bill is among hundreds lawmakers are voting on during its final week of session. Gov. Gavin Newsom then has until the end of September to decide whether to sign them into law, veto them or allow them to become law without his signature.

The measure squeaked by in the Assembly Wednesday and requires a final Senate vote before reaching the governor’s desk.

Supporters said it would set some of the first much-needed safety ground rules for largescale AI models in the United States. The bill targets systems that require more than $100 million in data to train. No current AI models have hit that threshold.

“It’s time that Big Tech plays by some kind of a rule, not a lot, but something,” Republican Assemblymember Devon Mathis said in support of the bill Wednesday. “The last thing we need is for a power grid to go out, for water systems to go out.”