California’s legislature passed a hotly contested AI safety bill Thursday — the groundbreaking Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act (SB 1047).
The controversial bill, which awaits Governor Gavin Newsom’s signature before it can become law, introduces the first major AI regulations in the United States. It could have far-reaching implications for tech companies and users alike.
California passes AI safety bill: Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act
After the California State Senate passed the bill by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) with a vote of 29 – 9, SB 1047 now awaits Gov. Newsom’s signature before the end of September to become official. Clearly, if it becomes law, SB 1047 could influence Apple Intelligence‘s development and implementation. Apple’s ongoing AI push debuts with the upcoming iOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1 releases. The new AI features require an iPhone 15 Pro or later, or iPads and Macs with the M1 chip or newer.
“We’ve worked hard all year, with open source advocates, Anthropic, and others, to refine and improve the bill. SB 1047 is well calibrated to what we know about forseeable AI risks, and it deserves to be enacted,” Wiener said.
The bill has broad bipartisan support, but also critics from both major political parties and the tech sector, according to reports in The Verge and elsewhere. AI companies like OpenAI largely oppose it, saying it will hinder innovation and may drive companies out of the state. But in a letter to Newsom, CEO Dario Amodei of AI company Anthropic wrote the latest version of the bill is “substantially improved, to the point where we believe its benefits likely outweigh its costs.”
And some tech figures — such as X.com and Tesla chief Elon Musk, who also runs the company xAI — actively support the bill. It comes after the Biden administration’s AI guidelines that Apple and other tech companies pledged to follow, but the new bill contains more detail and includes enforceable mandates. In other words, the new bill has some teeth the White House guidelines lack.
SB 1047’s mandates
The bill focuses on regulating sophisticated AI models, potentially affecting future AI features on Macs and other devices.
In the interest of keeping AI development safe, the bill requires AI developers to implement safety testing for advanced AI models that cost more than $100 million to develop, or those that require a defined amount of computing power. And companies must show they can quickly shut down unsafe models and protect against harmful modifications.
Support and criticism
Aside from mixed reviews among AI companies, the bill garnered support from AI pioneers like Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, who emphasize the importance of balancing innovation with safety. However, it faces criticism from some tech companies and politicians, like Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California), who worry about its potential impact on smaller developers and open-source projects.
For Mac users, this legislation could mean enhanced safety and reliability in future AI-powered features. However, it may also affect the pace of AI innovation and the types of AI capabilities that become available on your devices.
As California often sets trends in tech regulation, this bill could pave the way for similar measures across the country, which could shape the AI landscape for years to come.
