Concord Privacy News: 9/24/24
Major AI Safety Bill Awaits Action by California Governor
The fate of the most-watched U.S. bill related to artificial intelligence is in California Governor Gavin Newsom’s hands; he has until September 30 to either sign or veto SB 1047. The bill, championed by Sen. Scott Wiener, requires developers of the largest AI models to take significant safety measures to mitigate safety risks that future development of their systems may pose to the public.
The bill applies to all companies doing business in California (no matter where they are based) that develop AI models that cost more than $100 million to train. Among its many provisions, SB 1047 would require those developers to implement full shutdown capabilities before the initial training of applicable models and to create and maintain a safety and security protocol; prohibit the use or release of AI models that pose unreasonable risks of causing critical harm; and mandate annual third-party audits of compliance starting in January 2026.
While SB 1047 passed both chambers of the California legislature with wide support, speculation about whether Governor Newsom will sign the bill into law is widespread, given mounting pressure from tech industry leaders who oppose the bill. Those leaders seem to agree that they want AI to be safe, but they don’t agree that SB 1047 is the way to get there. Mozilla has said that safety issues related to AI should be addressed as they arise; Meta has said that the bill will “hurt research efforts”; and OpenAI has said that Congress should regulate AI, not the states.
On the other hand, proponents of the bill say it is a common sense approach to protecting society from AI being used in harmful ways, such as conducting cyberattacks on critical infrastructure and developing chemical, nuclear, or biological weapons. Sen. Wiener, the sponsor of the bill, even introduced amendments in response to feedback from AI leaders in industry, academia, and the public sector. He said, “While the amendments do not reflect 100% of the changes requested by Anthropic—a world leader on both innovation and safety—we accepted a number of very reasonable amendments proposed, and I believe we’ve addressed the core concerns expressed by Anthropic and many others in the industry.”
As California has long been thought of as the tech industry hub and a leader in regulating the AI space, Governor Newsom’s decision on SB 1047 will certainly be a catalyst for ongoing discussions around the future of AI. Concord will be watching and will provide updates.
Other Privacy News of Note
Capital One, Talkspace Others Hit with Data Privacy, Tracking Class Actions
Consumers recently filed class action lawsuits against Steak ‘n Shake, Capital One, Talkspace, Jaguar Land Rover and Twilio. The class action lawsuits involve data privacy and tracking. The complaints were filed in U.S. federal courts. Read more.
Google’s GenAI Facing Privacy Risk Assessment Scrutiny in Europe
Google’s lead privacy regulator in the European Union has opened an investigation into whether it has complied with the bloc’s data protection laws in relation to use of people’s information for training generative AI. Read more.