Accountable Tech Statement on Gov. Newsom’s Veto of California’s Landmark AI Safety Bill

Today, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act (SB 1047) — a landmark bill that would have implemented crucial guardrails around AI development, including requiring pre-deployment safety testing and third-party auditing. The bill passed the State Legislature with broad bipartisan support but was opposed by Big Tech companies including Meta, OpenAI, and Google.

Accountable Tech Co-Founder and Executive Director Nicole Gill released the following statement:

“Governor Newsom’s veto is a massive giveaway to Big Tech companies and an affront to all Americans who are currently the unconsenting guinea pigs of an unregulated and untested AI industry. This veto will not ‘empower innovation’ – it only further entrenches the status quo where Big Tech monopolies are allowed to rake in profits without regard for our safety, even as their AI tools are already threatening democracy, civil rights, and the environment with unknown potential for other catastrophic harms.

“We’re deeply disappointed in Governor Newsom’s decision today, which will, once again, put the interests of billionaire tech executives above the well-being of Californians. Tech companies have proven time and time again that they can’t be trusted to regulate themselves – and yet when given the opportunity to sign common sense, bipartisan AI guardrails into law, Governor Newsom caved to industry pressure.”

Background on Accountable Tech’s work to rein in AI:

Ahead of the Assembly’s final vote, Accountable Tech launched a campaign encouraging California residents to call their Assemblymember and ask them to support SB 1047 — an effort that led to hundreds of emails and dozens of constituent calls. Accountable Tech also amassed over 7,300 signatures on this global petition calling on Gov. Newsom to sign the bill and directed more than 550 emails and nearly 100 calls to his office in the days leading up to his veto, encouraging him to sign the legislation into law.
In 2023, Accountable Tech launched digital ads and a report detailing the broken promises made in Big Tech’s “Accord” to address AI election content signed by companies including Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI.

Learn more about Accountable Tech’s previous work on AI HERE.

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