California AI safety bill passes Legislature after drawing criticism from Pelosi, support from Musk

A sweeping measure to regulate the development of artificial intelligence has passed the California Legislature and is headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.
Senate Bill 1047 by State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) passed its final vote in the state Senate on Thursday by a 29-9 vote. The Assembly approved the measure on Wednesday.
“Innovation and safety can go hand in hand — and California is leading the way,” Wiener said in a statement. “The Legislature has taken the truly historic step of working proactively to ensure an exciting new technology protects the public interest as it advances.”
The measure, known as the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act, would require companies to comply with certain rules in developing AI models, including having the capability to shut a model down.
“SB 1047 is a light touch, commonsense measure that codifies commitments that the largest AI companies have already voluntarily made,” Wiener went on to say.
The measure has caused division in the tech sector and among Wiener’s fellow Democrats.
Supporters of the legislation include Tesla, X and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. While saying it was a “tough call” Musk said earlier this week that the state “should probably pass” SB 1047.
“For over 20 years, I have been an advocate for AI regulation, just as we regulate any product/technology that is a potential risk to the public,” Musk said Monday on X.
Other supporters of the measure include two of the so-called “Godfathers of AI”, Yousua Bengio of the University of Montreal and Geoffrey Hinton, the former AI lead at Google.
Opponents of the measure include Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and Democratic Reps. Anna Eshoo, Ro Khanna and Zoe Lofgren, whose congressional districts cover Silicon Valley.
“While we want California to lead in AI in a way that protects consumers, data, intellectual property and more, SB 1047 is more harmful than helpful in that pursuit,” Pelosi said in a statement Aug. 16.
In the business and tech world, SB 1047 is facing opposition by OpenAI and the California Chamber of Commerce.
Newsom, who has until Sep. 30 to take action on SB 1047, has not indicated if he would sign or veto the measure.