California greenlights AI safety, data protection, Netflix quiet

California is riding a wave of Big Tech legislation, with the state’s leaders signing several technology-related bills in quick succession.

The first, referred to as the Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act, made headlines as a history-making state-level law ensuring more robust generative AI safety standards. The safety and transparency bill mandates AI labs disclose potential harm created by the rising technology and disclose their safety protocols as proof that companies are designing AI systems to mitigate catastrophic risk. The requirements are enforced by the state’s Office of Emergency Services. It applies to companies that reach a certain threshold of computing power reserved exclusively for model training or those that make at least $500 million in annual revenue.

The bill is designed to keep AI developers accountable to safety standards even when facing competitive pressure and includes protections for potential whistleblowers. California governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement that the legislation proves that stronger safety regulations aren’t necessarily an impediment to AI innovation, as many Big Tech leaders have argued.

Many onlookers have called the bill a new national standard.

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A few days later, Newsom signed SB 576, a bill that prohibits commercial volume levels from exceeding the viewer’s set volume. Importantly, it applies to streaming ads, too, which are widely underregulated. It extends the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act passed by Congress in 2010, which established average volume limits for broadcast television commercials and cable operators.

Most recently, the state has given the green light to AB 656, a law that requires social media companies to make it easier to cancel accounts and ensure that all personal account data is immediately deleted. Last year, the FTC announced new Click to Cancel rules, mandating subscription providers make it easier for customers to cancel recurring payments and delete their accounts.

Newsom — while fashioning himself into President Donald Trump’s number one nemesis — has led California in passing some of the nation’s most advanced tech regulation, child safety laws, and consumer protection acts. But Newsom has also cozied up to many of Big Tech’s interests, including vetoing a contentious, sweeping 2024 bill that would have made AI companies liable for harms caused by its technology.

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