California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed today an executive order to increase oversight of AI development in his state.
In a statement, the Democrat said, “We’re not waiting to act — we’re going to speed up our work on substantial and responsible AI oversight before it’s too late. We’re going to do this thoughtfully but with urgent velocity; the stakes are too high to wait or delay action.”
The executive order establishes a framework for the state government to create a guide for regulating AI companies in the next two months, which could include mandating a “kill switch” to shut down AI models in certain emergency situations.
It comes as the leaders of the nation’s biggest AI labs have raised concerns about the pace of AI development in recent weeks.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu via Getty Images file
Yesterday, Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro also raised concerns about the pace of AI progress and called out federal lawmakers who have not yet acted on the issue.
In Virginia, Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger also signed an AI-related executive order today, focused on regulating the sprawling data centers built in her state that support the computing power needed by AI companies.
“Virginia’s Data Center Accountability Framework is about delivering a better deal for Virginians and holding data center companies, developers, and operators accountable. The Framework is a thorough plan to end data center secrecy, protect our environment, lower energy costs for families, bolster our clean energy economy, and make sure Virginia workers have the protections and assurances they deserve,” Spanberger said in a statement.