What does the veto mean for businesses? The Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act received both support and criticism from the AI industry. California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the controversial AI regulation bill SB 1047 on Sept. 29. The bill “falls short of providing a flexible, comprehensive solution to curbing the potential catastrophic risks,” the governor’s office wrote. The announcement included alternative measures to both foster California’s AI industry and prevent harms. Newsom: the bill ‘could give the public a false sense of security’ SB 1047, the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act, would have been the strongest regulation in the country regarding generative AI. It aimed to provide protections for industry whistleblowers, mandate large AI developers to be able to fully shut down their models, and hold major AI companies accountable to strict safety and security protocols. The bill passed the California State Assembly and Senate in August. In his statement vetoing the bill, Newsom said SB 1047 “establishes a regulatory framework that could give the public a false sense of security about controlling this fast-moving technology” because the bill focuses on large, expensive models as opposed to smaller models in high-risk situations. “While well-intentioned, SB 1047 does not take into account whether an Al system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making or the use of sensitive data,” Newsom wrote. “Instead, the bill applies stringent standards to even the most basic functions — so long as a large system deploys it. I do not believe this is the best approach to protecting the public from real threats posed by the technology.” However, on Sept. 29, the governor pointed out several new initiatives related to generative AI: California’s Office of Emergency Services will be required to expand their existing work assessing the potential threats of generative AI The state will convene a group of AI experts and academics, including Stanford University professor and AI “grandmother” Fei-Fei Li, to “help California develop workable guardrails.” The state will convene academics, labor stakeholders, and the private sector to “explore approaches to use GenAI technology in the workplace.” Does California’s AI bill go too far or not far enough? Sen. Scott Wiener (D-Calif) is the primary author of SB 1047. He criticized Newsom’s decision in an X post on Sunday. “This veto is a setback for everyone who believes in oversight of massive corporations that are making critical decisions that affect the safety and welfare of the public and the future of the planet,” he wrote. More must-read AI coverage