California AI law is criticized by Nancy Pelosi as "ill-informed."
Late yesterday, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi released a statement expressing her opposition to California bill SB 1047, which aims to govern artificial intelligence.
Pelosi stated, "A lot of us in Congress believe that SB 1047 is well-meaning but ignorant." She mentioned that three other Bay Area congressmen, Zoe Lofgren, Anna Eshoo, and Ro Khanna, have voiced concerns about the bill, calling it "more damaging than helpful."
The law is currently en route to California's Assembly for a vote after it was recently modified to address criticisms raised by Anthropic, an AI business. Pelosi and other members of Congress have no formal voice in this matter because it is a state issue; nonetheless, due to her prominence and seniority, she is likely to have more influence over California politicians.
California is the birthplace of AI, she claimed. "We need laws that set an example for the country and the rest of the world.It is our duty and opportunity to support the rise of small business owners and academic institutions rather than large corporations.
In response, the bill's sponsor, state senator Scott Wiener, released a statement stating that, despite having "enormous respect" for Pelosi, "I respectfully and vehemently disagree with her statement.
" Wiener continued, "The measure just asks the biggest AI developers to do what they have all consistently agreed to do: Conduct fundamental safety testing on extraordinarily potent AI models.