Elon Musk endorses California AI bill but tech bosses are divided

Tesla chief and X owner Elon Musk believes that California should approve SB 1047 AI safety bill that lays down deployment regulations for tech companies in the state. Other tech leaders have opposed the proposal, saying it limits innovation and kills competition.

SB-1047 Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act was amended on August 22 in the state legislative assembly. Meanwhile, another bill, AB-3211 California Digital Content Provenance Standards, was amended in the Senate on August 23.

Elon Musk asks to approve SB 1047

Musk recently posted on X, “I think California should probably pass the SB 1047 AI safety bill.” The tech entrepreneur said that any product or technology that is a potential public risk has to be regulated. 

The statement has divided the internet as Musk founded xAI in 2023 for developments in the field. The X owner has also been vocal about artificial intelligence on the platform through Grok, a generative artificial intelligence chatbot.

Bindu Reddy, the CEO and co-founder of Abacus.AI responded, “It’s premature to pass a bill when we don’t understand exactly how AI can be dangerous.”

Meanwhile, other tech giants like ChatGPT developer OpenAI, Adobe, and Microsoft are supporting a separate AB 3211 bill. 

SB 1047 proposes for responsible development of artificial intelligence by including safety protocols, compliance audits, risk management, and disclosure. AB 3211 focuses on how artificial intelligence creates and labels digital content, including deepfakes. While the former is a more comprehensive bill by State Senator Scott Wiener (D), the latter is crucial to stop the spread of misinformation ahead of the US elections in November.

AI stakeholders believe the bill will stifle innovation

In the post where Musk showed his support, he called for tech developers to conduct safety testing on their own models first. Abacus.AI’s Reddy questions why Musk would hurt the prospects of xAI with his endorsement.

Ari Paul, CIO and founder of BlockTower Capital suggests that Musk invested in building the data center before addressing regulatory compliance in the sector. Paul believes that Musk is trying to gain a competitive edge by the timing.

Yea we get it. You finished the data center and now want a regulatory moat so you can extract rents without facing competition. As always, the principals go out the window as soon as the grift is ready.

— Ari Paul ⛓️ (@AriDavidPaul) August 27, 2024

Einar Vollset, co-founder of VC fund TinySeed also opined that SB 1047 could potentially stop open source models.

The Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act introduces strict regulations for “covered models,” which are determined based on the computational power and costs involved in their creation. The bill sets a $100 million threshold to identify which models fall under these regulations.

The bill also includes provisions for establishing a public cloud computing infrastructure, known as “CalCompute” to promote safe and equitable artificial intelligence innovation. The goal of the bill is to ensure that artificial intelligence technology advances in a manner that responsibly safeguards public safety.

Based on the California legislative database, the lawmakers might have introduced at least 69 bills with the term AI in 2023-24. Most of the bills are no longer under consideration.