On June 14, 2024, ALEC Action and representatives from eight organizations submitted a letter for the legislative record expressing deep concerns with California SB 1047 – the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Systems Act. SB 1047 passed the California Senate in May 2024 and is currently awaiting further consideration in the State Assembly.
Read the full letter to the California State Legislature here.
If enacted in its current form, SB 1047 would undermine America’s position as the global leader in AI, stifle innovation, and curtail the development of open-source AI models by potentially holding developers criminally and civilly liable if there is a chance of abuse by bad actors. Even California Governor Gavin Newsom warned about the consequences of overregulating AI in this early stage.
Instead of pursuing harsh restrictions on this promising technology, California legislators should follow the ALEC roadmap to principled, free-market AI policy. In cases where it is absolutely necessary, regulations should be narrow in scope, address concrete harms, and hold bad actors accountable for illegal conduct – like the non-consensual AI deepfakes that victimized Taylor Swift and countless average Americans, even minors.
