California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed an executive order to fast-track stringent oversight and control of AI that could have major implications for Hollywood.
Projected as a move to step in where Donald Trump fears to go and respond to AI CEOs’ sudden change of heart about the rate of the technology‘s acceleration, the executive order dated Friday aims to convene “a group of world-leading experts” in the next 60 days. Industry insiders tell me they have been in contact with Newsom’s office about making sure Tinseltown has a “significant presence” among those experts.
Regardless of who is asked to show up on Newsom’s AI star chamber, a big part of that gathering is drafting “proposals under consideration include requiring independent third parties to write safety plans for frontier AI companies, as well as requiring companies to develop an emergency shutoff, or ‘kill switch,’ for frontier models.”
As outlined, Newsom’s plan is to have strict AI guardrails in place by mid-next year. Of course, Newsom won’t be the governor of California in 2027, but that fact is unlikely to wane his influence on AI, as likely successor and Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra has expressed his own AI concerns much in line with Newsom’s take on the tech.
“The federal government’s abject failure to create any form of meaningful AI oversight or accountability should alarm every American, especially when AI CEOs themselves are begging for regulation,” Newsom, a likely 2028 POTUS candidate, said today. “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,” he added as data centers and the dire possibilities of AI become core issues in this year’s midterm elections.
In the closing months of his two-term reign in Sacramento, Newsom has been on an AI spree, signing bills and initiatives to harness the powerful tech. “Today’s executive order takes these actions even further,” said the governor’s office this morning, announcing the new order.
Newsom also went on online this morning to drop the news with a swipe at Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson for not passing “national legislation” to corral AI. The ambitious and fairly tech savvy governor said that when it comes to AI guardrails, “California wants to create the standards in this space.”
Newsom’s statement today says: “Through the order, the Governor is directing the Government Operations Agency: to accelerate the implementation timelines for SB 813 and AB 1405, and, in consultation with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, to convene national experts to develop recommendations for potential changes to further strengthen state law to:
- Require frontier AI companies to embed a designated independent verification organization onsite in their labs to conduct regular audits and evaluations.
- Require that the AI safety frameworks, transparency reports, and risk assessments that frontier AI companies are required to file under state law are verified pursuant to standards deemed adequate by an independent verification organization.
- Advance the creation of a “kill switch” for frontier models, with the efficacy of the switch verified on an ongoing basis by an independent verification organization.
- Update definitions of critical safety incidents to include loss-of-control incidents such as the Hugging Face attack.”
For Hollywood, which has had a weary relationship with AI, its implications, its practical use, cost-saving hopes and copyright nightmares, the donor-friendly governor has proved a hedge of sorts against the Northern California-based techlords. At the same time, those techlords like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei have declared, with IPO self-interest or not depending on your POV, that it is time to slow down AI development with warnings it could escape the control of its masters.
In that vein, Newsom said today: “We’re going to do this thoughtfully but with urgent velocity; the stakes are too high to wait or delay action.” Having rebuilt his brand on trolling Trump and MAGA, the Democrat added: “While Washington abdicates its responsibility to protect Americans, California is building on the strongest AI regulatory framework in the nation. California has already built a national model, and our policy should be the national baseline.”
As Congress leaves DC to center on the midterms, Trump continues to insist that the last thing AI needs is regulation. In fact, as a series of proposed AI bills gather dust in committee, Trump and Speaker Johnson say regulation would allow China to take the lead in AI. To that, AI leaders like OpenAI‘s Sam Altman and ex-Apple CEO Tim Cook have been invited to next week’s state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jingping where an AI sidebar is anticipated to take place in one form or another.
The scope and implications of AI was a big part of Deadline’s L.A. Law Summit on Thursday with panelists from top firms and agencies warning against the lack of a national strategy.