Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a major AI safety bill today, saying that it applied “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,

California's governor has signed other AI bills, but argued that SB 1047 is "not the best approach" to tackling AI safety.

The SB 1047 bill was originally proposed by Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat. It would have required AI developers to certify their largest models had undergone extensive safety testing before being deployed, in order to protect people from potential risks, such as creating bioweapons.