For years, AI has been divided intoaccel and decel.
Now a California bill is making this fight political.
What Is SB 1047?
Photo: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images (Getty Images)
Why Should I Care?
Not everyone sees it that way though.
Many in Silicon Valley are raising alarm bells that this law will kill the AI era before it starts.
What Does SB 1047 Actually Do?
The bill also creates the Frontier Model Division within Californias Government Operations Agency.
If businesses dont consider the Divisions recommendations, they could be sued and face civil penalties.
Who Supports This Bill?
These two have been very prominent in issuing warning calls about AIs dangers.
It was signed by Sam Altman, Bill Gates, Grimes, and plenty of influential tech people.
Theyre an influential group and a key player in promoting this bill.
In March 2023, decels called for apause on all AI developmentto implement safety infrastructure.
That Makes Sense.
So Whos Against SB 1047?
If youre on X, it feels like everyone in Silicon Valley is against SB 1047.
Venture capitalists, startup founders, AI researchers, and leaders of the open-source AI community hate this bill.
Id generally categorize these folks as accels, or at least, thats where they land on this issue.
Many of them are in the business of AI, but some are researchers as well.
Midha and Stoica are not the only ones who view AI regulation as existentially for the industry.
Open-source AI has powered the most thriving Silicon Valley startup scene in years.
The bill stems from a community thats very interested in pausing AI in general.
This Sounds Really Technical.
Can Lawmakers Get All This Right?
It absolutely is technical, and thats created some issues.
SB 1047 only applies to large frontier models, but how big is large?
Sticking a flag in the sand doesnt work well for a field moving this quickly.
Its also not clear if its even possible to fully prevent AI systems from misbehaving.
Thats why some researchers are saying regulators should focus on the bad actors, not the model providers.
Another technical piece of this bill relates to open-source AI models.
Under this bill, it seems that Meta certainly could be held responsible.
That said, opponents of the bill still find this unfair and not the right approach.
Quick Question: Is AI Actually Free Speech?
Code has historically fallen under the First Amendment in several instances.
Three law professors argued ina Lawfare articlethat AI models are not exactly free speech.
Humans can barely even read them.
AI models dont exactly take a point of view, they say lots of things.
For that reason, these law professors say SB 1047 may not impinge on the First Amendment.
So, Whats Next?
The bill is racing towards a fast-approaching August vote that would send the bill to Governor Gavin Newsoms desk.
A big tech trade group just sent Newsom a letter telling him not to sign SB 1047.
However, Newsom may want to set a precedent for the nation on AI.
If SB 1047 goes into effect, it could radically change the AI landscape in America.
Correction, June 25: A previous version of this article did not define what critical harms are.
It likely will be affected in the future.
Lastly, the Frontier Model Division was moved to Californias Government Operations Agency, not the Department of Technology.
That group has no enforcement power at this time.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
Meta Pissed Off Everyone With Poorly Redacted Docs
Meta is being very transparent on accident.
Why the Hell Is OpenAI Building an X Clone?
OpenAI is reportedly planning on making a social media platform because content to train on ain’t cheap.
