Earlier this week, California’s governor Gavin Newsom signed a new regulation designed to make sure secure improvement and deployment of frontier AI fashions.
“California has confirmed that we will set up laws to guard our communities whereas additionally making certain that the rising AI business continues to thrive,” Newsom mentioned. “This laws strikes that stability. AI is the brand new frontier in innovation, and California just isn’t solely right here for it – however stands sturdy as a nationwide chief by enacting the first-in-the-nation frontier AI security laws that builds public belief as this rising know-how quickly evolves.”
The regulation, SB 53, establishes necessities for corporations creating frontier AI fashions, spanning 5 classes: transparency, innovation, security, accountability, and responsiveness.
To make sure transparency, SB 53 requires that frontier mannequin builders publish a framework on their web site that describes how they’re incorporating nationwide and worldwide requirements and business finest practices.
To be able to assist innovation, a brand new consortium known as CalCompute will likely be fashioned to assist analysis that can advance improvement of AI that’s secure, moral, equitable, and sustainable.
The regulation additionally creates a brand new security mechanism for AI corporations and the general public to report crucial security incidents to California’s Workplace of Emergency Companies.
It additionally units up protections for whistleblowers who come ahead with information of great well being and security dangers that frontier fashions pose, in addition to creates a civil penalty for noncompliance.
Lastly, SB 53 directs the California Division of Know-how to advocate annual updates to the regulation based mostly on enter from a number of stakeholders, technological developments, and worldwide requirements.
“With a know-how as transformative as AI, we’ve got a accountability to assist that innovation whereas setting up commonsense guardrails to know and scale back danger. With this regulation, California is stepping up, as soon as once more, as a worldwide chief on each know-how innovation and security,” mentioned Senator Scott Wiener, who authored SB 53.
Mayank Kumar, founding AI engineer on the AI safety firm DeepTempo, believes this can be a welcome step ahead for the accountable use of AI. He defined that customary our bodies reminiscent of NIST and ISO have already launched AI security frameworks, and that this new regulation will pace up the enforcement course of.
“This regulation rightfully treats AI as a crucial rising know-how that, for the sake of public security, should be regulated. Its deal with obligatory incident reporting is especially essential, establishing a framework much like cybersecurity protocols the place transparency is essential to managing systemic dangers and constructing a tradition of accountability,” he mentioned.
