What California AI Bill Could Mean

The constantly humming AI-news machine revved up a notch this week, what with Nvidia’s earnings report, news about OpenAI’s fundraising and the first ever data about how many people are using Meta AI. But potentially the biggest development was the passage in the California legislature of SB 1047, aimed at addressing the risks of AI. It has sparked enormous debate within the industry, which is sure to intensify in the next month as California Gov. Gavin Newsom decides whether to sign it.

As we described in this piece on Thursday night, the bill requires AI developers to anticipate “what their customers do with their AI and to pay steep fines if the software causes harm.”

Whoa! You can just imagine what that could mean. As our story pointed out, some people worry this would make AI developers liable for what their customers do with their software. That’s a nightmare scenario.