Tech Industry Uses Push Poll to Stop California AI Bill

The legislation is likely to pass, but Gov. Gavin Newsom is being lobbied hard by Silicon Valley to oppose it, using what can be seen as deceptive tactics.

BY GARRISON LOVELY AUGUST 28, 2024



PAUL SANCYA/AP PHOTO
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (center) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (right) oppose the AI bill in the California legislature. Gov. Gavin Newsom (between them) must decide whether or not to sign it.

The California Assembly just passed SB 1047, a first-of-its-kind AI safety bill. The legislation would require producers of next-generation artificial intelligence models to create safety plans designed to prevent mass damage or casualty events. It’s a first step to regulating AI in the state with more activity in this space than anywhere else. Supporters describe the bill as common-sense, light-touch regulation. The industry that seeks to profit handsomely off these models fiercely disagrees, and has pulled out all the stops to kill it.

In spite of this resistance, the bill has flown through the legislature. Today’s initial Assembly vote came out to 41 in favor and nine against, with support from at least two Republicans. The Assembly’s full tally will come tonight. Now the bill goes back to the Senate for a concurrence vote. It is expected to have an easier time there—an earlier version of the bill passed the Senate with 32 votes in favor, one against, and seven abstentions.

Just ahead of the final floor votes, the California Chamber of Commerce was touting a poll finding a plurality of surveyed likely voters in opposition to SB 1047.

But while the Chamber got their poll into the opinion-influencing Politico California newsletter, it did not initially publish the full poll results. (The results were quietly added sometime in the afternoon or evening.) After I obtained them, it’s easy to see why. Between August 9th and 12th, this is how over one thousand Californians were introduced to the bill:

Lawmakers in Sacramento have proposed a new state law—SB 1047—that would create a new California state regulatory agency to determine how AI models can be developed. This new law would require small startup companies to potentially pay tens of millions of dollars in fines if they don’t implement orders from state bureaucrats. Some say burdensome regulations like SB 1047 would potentially lead companies to move out of state or out of the country, taking investment and jobs away from California. Given everything you just read, do you support or oppose a proposal like SB 1047?

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