Elon Musk & Vitalik Back California’s AI Safety Bill: What’s Inside

• A proposed AI bill in California has garnered national attention.
• Two influential names in crypto, Elon Musk and Vitalik Buterin, have gone against the grain to back the bill.
• The backing comes at a pivotal point for the bill.

With AI’s rapid growth in recent years, there have been calls for regulation to mitigate potential risks. At the time of writing, California looks to be well on its way to answering these calls with broad rules to regulate the development and deployment of the technology in the state packaged in a bill known as Senate Bill (SB) 1047.

Despite being a state bill, SB 1047 has sparked national discourse amid polarizing reactions from experts and leading AI firms, many of whom are headquartered in the state. Recently, however, the bill has garnered support from two influential names in crypto, Tesla founder Elon Musk and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin .

Here’s what you need to know about California’s AI safety bill and why Musk and Vitalik have thrown their weight behind it.

What California’s Al Safety Bill is About

First introduced in February 2024 by Democratic State Senator Scott Weiner, the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act, also known as SB 1047 or California’s AI safety bill, intends to introduce safety procedures for advanced AI models that cost more than $100 million to train or require a defined amount of computing power. 

The bill will require these large models to undergo safety tests to eliminate behavioral risks before they are released. These pre-launch risk mitigation measures include implementing a kill switch to pull the plug on the project in the event of a large unexpected threat.

At the same time, developers would be required to develop a risk response plan, which they must keep on hand for the model’s lifetime and an additional five years after that. Furthermore, the bill will require AI labs to hire third-party auditors to review the implementation of safety practices annually.

Developers would also have to report safety incidents to California’s Attorney General, who could fine developers up to $50,000 for first-time violations of the bill and up to $100,000 for subsequent violations.

In addition to these provisions, the bill offers additional protections for whistleblowers.

In previous versions, the bill also included criminal penalties for perjury and the creation of a dedicated state regulatory body. However, these were scrapped in an August 15 amendment to soothe some concerns raised by industry participants.

Criticisms Against California’s AI Safety Bill

SB 1047 has mostly faced fierce opposition from big tech. Companies like Andreessen Horowitz, Google, and Meta have labeled the bill a threat to research and innovation. Also opposing the bill, Open AI argued that regulations should be left to the federal government.

At the same time, Dr Fei-Fei Li, known as the “godmother of AI,” has argued that the bill will have “unintended consequences,” particularly on parts of the AI sector she described as disadvantaged. These sectors include the public sector, academia, and “‘little tech.’” It is unclear whether Li still has the same stance today, as the bill has since been amended.

Still, the bill is not without influential supporters, which include Yoshua Bengio, one of the acclaimed “godfathers of AI.” At the same time, Anthropic has shown cautious support for the bill’s latest version in an open letter arguing that the benefits now likely outweighed the risks.

Tesla founder Elon Musk and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin are the latest to join these ranks.

Musk and Vitalik Back SB 1047

In an X post on Monday, August 26, Musk argued for the passing of the bill, writing:

“This is a tough call and will make some people upset, but, all things considered, I think California should probably pass the SB 1047 AI safety bill. For over 20 years, I have been an advocate for AI regulation, just as we regulate any product/technology that is a potential risk to the public.”

Under Musk’s post, Ethereum’s Vitalik could be seen arguing in favor of the bill. 

He argued that the bill’s main aim was to prevent AI models with “world-threatening capabilities” from going to market. At the same time, he also tried to clarify that the bill only supported fines when developers did not take reasonable steps to ensure safety and not when the model caused harm due to unexpected abuse. Vitalik further applauded the bill for avoiding linguistic inflation by introducing a “critical harm” category to distinguish between “‘really bad stuff and ‘medium bad stuff.’”

Musk and Vitalik’s support for the California AI safety bill comes as both have, in different ways, called for more thoughtful and transparent advancement of AI technology. Unlike Vitalik, however, Musk has skin in the game as the new bill will also affect his AI startup xAI if it passes.

Interestingly, the support from Musk and Vitalik comes at a pivotal point in the bill’s life cycle.

California’s AI Safety Bill To Face Full Assembly 

Musk and Vitalik’s support comes as SB 1047 is set to face a penultimate vote in the full State Assembly. If it passes the State Assembly vote, it will return to the Senate for a final vote due to recent amendments.

Passing the State Assembly vote could clear the bill’s path to approval, as it skated through the Senate the first time around in a 32 to 1 vote. If the bill passes by August 31, it will go to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk to sign or veto by September 30. It remains anyone’s guess which way the California governor will swing.

On the Flipside

• It remains to be seen if the bill will pass.
• The AI safety bill will affect firms operating outside California so long as they offer access to their product in the state.

Why This Matters

With the quick rise of AI has come the rise of fear of potential existential threats to humanity. California’s AI safety bill attempts to nip this threat in the bud; however, it also comes with potential trade-offs.

Read this for more on Vitalik’s thoughts on AI’s trajectory:
Why Ethereum’s Vitalik Wants AI To Develop at a Slower Pace

See how a Nigerian state is defying a federal crypto crackdown:
Nigerian State Signals Pro-Blockchain Stance With Ethereum L2 Partnership