"They have the potential for many good things, but due to their massive computing power, they also could be causing catastrophic events, such as cyberattacks, the creation or release of certain kinds of weapons or the potential of evading control of the developer or user amongst other possible threats," said AG Raoul.
The measure also instituted whistleblower protections, allowing tech employees to securely flag public health or safety hazards to state officials.
"If we got social media wrong, and we did, we cannot afford to get AI wrong at an even greater scale," said Democratic state Sen.
Mary Edly-Allen.
The legislative initiative gained bipartisan momentum during the spring legislative session before passing the House unanimously with a 110-0 vote.
"No, absolutely. I never have used it," said Ramirez.
"...
This whole move fast and break things is not acceptable innovation strategy when we know that the things that end up being broken are not just a computer, a laptop, a cell phone.
It’s people’s lives, their rights and their privacy."
Leading tech firms OpenAI and Anthropic expressed support for the safety baseline throughout the state legislative process.
"Takes the safety practices leading labs already follow voluntarily — publishing a safety framework, transparent reporting, protecting whistleblowers — and helps establish a baseline that every leading AI developer is expected to meet," according to Anthropic.
Democratic House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch argued that tech development oversight shouldn't remain entirely hands-off.
"Tech bros whose culture of 'move fast and break things' is moving faster and faster and breaking more and more as it goes," said Welch.
