California Governor Newsom Signs Order Seeking AI 'Kill Switch'
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order proposing a kill switch for frontier AI models and a two-month expert review of AI safety.
The panel will submit its recommendations to Newsom's office, which would then update state laws surrounding AI safety. The executive order includes several specific proposals, including embedding "designated independent verification organizations" in AI labs to conduct periodic audits and evaluations, Engadget reported.
The expert panel will also explore requiring AI companies to file reports and risk assessments with a third-party organization and to disclose "loss-of-control incidents," such as the Hugging Face incident, according to the report.
"We're going to speed up our work on substantial and responsible AI oversight before it's too late," Newsom said in a press release. "We're going to do this thoughtfully but with urgent velocity; the stakes are too high to wait or delay action."
The order comes after AI models from major companies recently broke out of their constraints, Engadget reported.
Newsom is not alone in calling for outside review of the latest AI models on an ongoing basis. Last week, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei proposed a three-step plan to slow down the development of AI. Amodei suggested that AI companies should agree to "ongoing, employee-like access" for third-party evaluators focused on safety and compliance, according to Engadget.