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Orrick: California Looks to Regulate Cutting-Edge Frontier AI Models: 5 Things to Know
webSB 1047 was a high-profile 2024 California bill that sparked major debate in the AI industry; it was ultimately vetoed by Governor Newsom in September 2024, but remains influential as a model for future AI legislation.
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Summary
Orrick law firm provides a legal analysis of California's SB 1047, a landmark bill proposing safety requirements for developers of large frontier AI models. The piece outlines key provisions including safety assessments, incident reporting, and kill-switch requirements, as well as potential compliance burdens and constitutional questions. It serves as a practical overview for businesses navigating the proposed regulatory landscape.
Key Points
- •SB 1047 targets developers of large AI models (above a compute threshold) operating in California, requiring safety and security protocols before deployment.
- •Key requirements include conducting hazard assessments, implementing emergency shutdown capabilities, and reporting serious safety incidents to a new state oversight body.
- •The bill creates potential liability for developers if their models are used to cause mass casualties or critical infrastructure attacks, even by third parties.
- •Critics raise concerns about compliance costs for smaller developers and startups, as well as ambiguity in key definitions like 'covered model' and 'reasonable care'.
- •The legislation reflects a broader trend of state-level AI regulation in the absence of comprehensive federal law, with significant implications for the global AI industry.
Cited by 1 page
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act | Policy | 66.0 |
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# California Looks to Regulate Cutting-Edge Frontier AI Models: 5 Things to Know About SB-1047
6 minute read \| July.19.2024
On May 21, 2024, the California Senate passed the [Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1047) (SB-1047), and referred the bill to the State Assembly. Though the bill has already been amended in the Assembly and may be subject to further amendment, SB-1047 would impose substantial compliance obligations on entities involved in training the most powerful and well-funded artificial intelligence models.
The bill seeks to:
1. [Regulate AI based on the amount of money and computing power used to train a model.](https://www.orrick.com/en/Insights/2024/07/California-Looks-to-Regulate-Cutting-Edge-Frontier-AI-Models-5-Things-to-Know-About-SB1047#1)
2. [Impose an array of compliance obligations on developers of covered models.](https://www.orrick.com/en/Insights/2024/07/California-Looks-to-Regulate-Cutting-Edge-Frontier-AI-Models-5-Things-to-Know-About-SB1047#2)
3. [Regulate operators of computing clusters used to train a covered model.](https://www.orrick.com/en/Insights/2024/07/California-Looks-to-Regulate-Cutting-Edge-Frontier-AI-Models-5-Things-to-Know-About-SB1047#3)
4. [Grant expansive labor protections for employees of developers, contractors and subcontractors.](https://www.orrick.com/en/Insights/2024/07/California-Looks-to-Regulate-Cutting-Edge-Frontier-AI-Models-5-Things-to-Know-About-SB1047#4)
5. [Confer oversight powers to new and existing regulators.](https://www.orrick.com/en/Insights/2024/07/California-Looks-to-Regulate-Cutting-Edge-Frontier-AI-Models-5-Things-to-Know-About-SB1047#5)
## In More Detail
### 1\. The bill would regulate AI models based on the amount of money and computing power used to train the model.
The bill defines a “covered model” as an AI model “trained using a quantity of computing power greater than 10^26 integer or floating-point operations, the cost of which exceeds one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) when calculated using the average market prices of cloud compute at the start of training as reasonably assessed by the developer.” The definition also encompasses covered models fine-tuned using computing power equal to or greater than three times 10^25 integer or floating-point operations.
A floating-point operation is any mathematical operation that uses floating-
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