Big Tech May Focus Its Stress on Catching California’s Final AI Security Bill: Gavin Newsom

As California’s AI bill, SB 1047, continues to move through the California state legislature, the AI ​​industry and its allies are trying to convince Governor Gavin Newsom to veto the bill.

The bill, which requires the largest borderline model makers to develop and report AI safety guidelines, passed out of the appropriations committee last week and is now scheduled for a floor vote in the House sometime this month. If it passes the Assembly, the next stop is Newsom’s desk. (The bill earlier this year passed the Senate floor by a 32-1 margin.)

The tech industry believes the bill should focus on the use of AI, not on the underlying models being developed. There are fears that developers who build on top of open source boundary models could be held responsible for the security flaws of the base model. The bill’s author and champion, Senator Scott Wiener, addressed these concerns in an amendment last week stating that the developer would have had to spend at least $10 million to fine-tune the basic model to address safety issues. (Wiener also added amendments softening the legal language developers can use to declare safety, and changing the penalties for lying from criminal to civil only.) But many in AI circles remain opposed to the bill because it still requires developers to model limits to prove AI is safe, even before of any harm being done.

Now, some of the most vocal opponents of the bill have tapped their lobbyist network to help. Two of California’s most high-profile and powerful lobbyists, both with ties to Newsom, are working to sink SB 1047.

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz has retained Axiom Advisors, a Sacramento-based firm led by Jason Kinney, a longtime California Democratic politician and friend and political adviser to Newsom for more than two decades. It was at Kinney’s birthday party at the French Laundry that Newsom was famously caught violating the country’s 2021 Covid guidelines. San Francisco Chronicle (reports that Kinney’s firm’s debts increased the following year.)

State of California lobbyist filings show that Kinney’s firm, Axiom Advisors, has solicited Andreessen Horowitz regarding SB 1047 since April of 2024. The firm is registered to lobby the governor’s office, the legislature, and all state organizations on behalf of Andreessen Horowitz. Andreessen Horowitz paid $39,750 for that work from April to June. (Axiom’s SB 1047 work fees on behalf of the VC between July and August have not been reported.) Axiom founder and managing partner Catherine “Cassie” Gilson has been meeting with lawmakers on SB 1047, the source said. Kinney’s direct lobbying activities on this issue, if any, are unknown. Axiom and Gilson also requested Meta on SB 1047 in 2024.

UY Combinator, another opponent of SB 1047, also retained a high-profile California public representative, Darius Anderson, to champion the bill. In January, Newsom appointed Anderson to the five-person board of the California Fish and Game Commission. Anderson, owner of Santa Rosa Press Democrat Newspaper, he has been lobbying in Sacramento since 1998 through his firm, Platinum Advisors, which is now among California’s top participating firms. Y Combinator recently retained Anderson and Platinum. The results show that the marriage started on July 30.

A number of high-ranking politicians at the national level also came out against the bill. California Representatives Ro Khanna (D-Santa Clara), Anna Eshoo (D-Palo Alto), and Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) each issued statements opposing SB 1047. The three, along with -Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego) wrote a letter directly to Newsom on Thursday, urging him to block the bill on the grounds that it “creates unnecessary risk to California’s economy with very little public safety gains,” the letter reads. (Those same members of Congress also received donations from the tech sector. Khanna lists Alphabet, Apple, and Stanford among the top five donors to his campaign fund and leadership PAC. Lofgren lists Alphabet, Cisco , and Ron Conway’s SV Angel VC. Eshoo’s top investor VC Kleiner Perkins counts Kleiner Perkins and Qualcomm.)

Recently, former Speaker of the House and Democratic Party Nancy Pelosi came out against this bill. “AI is from California,” his statement read. “We should have a model law for the nation and the world,” acknowledging the fact that California’s AI bill could serve as a model for other states, or even the federal government. On a purely political level, Newsom may be forced to think twice before defying Pelosi’s wishes and signing the bill.
Newsom, on the other hand, has said little about the bill. A spokesperson for the manager’s office said Fast company that the governor “rarely comments on pending legislation.” For now, he has until the end of September to sign or vote on it.