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Pelosi Statement in Opposition to California Senate Bill 1047
governmentpelosi.house.gov·pelosi.house.gov/news/press-releases/pelosi-statement-opp...
This primary source documents a significant political moment in AI governance: a high-profile Democratic leader opposing a major state-level AI safety bill, illustrating the political divisions around AI regulation and the tension between safety-focused and innovation-focused policy approaches.
Metadata
Importance: 52/100press releaseprimary source
Summary
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi publicly opposed California's SB 1047, a landmark AI safety bill that would have imposed pre-deployment safety requirements on large AI models. Her opposition, citing concerns about innovation and regulatory overreach, contributed to the broader political debate that ultimately led Governor Newsom to veto the bill.
Key Points
- •Pelosi argued SB 1047 would harm California's AI innovation ecosystem and potentially drive AI development out of the state
- •The statement reflects a prominent Democrat breaking with AI safety advocates who supported the bill's precautionary regulatory framework
- •SB 1047 would have required safety testing and incident reporting for AI models trained above a compute threshold
- •The opposition highlights the political tension between AI safety regulation and economic competitiveness concerns in tech policy
- •Pelosi's stance influenced the political momentum that contributed to Governor Newsom's September 2024 veto of the bill
Cited by 1 page
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act | Policy | 66.0 |
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# Pelosi Statement in Opposition to California Senate Bill 1047
August 16, 2024
[Press Release](https://pelosi.house.gov/news/press-releases)
_San Francisco – Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi issued this statement in opposition to California Senate Bill 1047:_
“AI has been a central policy focus of the President and the Congress for the past few years. President Biden has taken the lead in addressing AI’s prospects and problems, receiving intellectual, business and community leaders to share their views. In the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, we early on brought in academics, entrepreneurs and leaders from the public, private and non-profit sectors to express AI’s opportunities and challenges.
“The review is coming down to if and what standards and guardrails should Congress legislate. In addition to focusing on protections, we wanted to pursue improving AI. This work continues under the Bipartisan Task Force on Artificial Intelligence under the leadership of co-chairs Congressman Ted Lieu and Congressman Jay Obernolte – both of California.
“At this time, the California legislature is considering SB 1047. The view of many of us in Congress is that SB 1047 is well-intentioned but ill informed. Zoe Lofgren, the top Democrat on the Committee of jurisdiction, Science, Space and Technology, has [expressed(link is external)](https://lofgren.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/lofgren.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/8.7.24%20to%20Senator%20Wiener.pdf "(opens in a new window)") serious concerns to the lead author, Senator Scott Wiener.
“Prominent California leaders have spoken out, including Representatives Anna Eshoo and Ro Khanna who have joined other House Members in a [letter(link is external)](https://democrats-science.house.gov/imo/media/doc/2024-08-15%20to%20Gov%20Newsom_SB1047.pdf "(opens in a new window)") to Governor Gavin Newsom opposing the bill. While we want California to lead in AI in a way that protects consumers, data, intellectual property and more, SB 1047 is more harmful than helpful in that pursuit.
“I spelled out the seriousness and priority we in Congress and California have taken. To create a better path, I refer interested parties to Stanford scholar Fei-Fei Li, viewed as California’s top AI academic and researcher and one of the top AI thinkers globally. Widely credited with being the “Godmother of AI,” she [warned(link is external)](https://fortune.com/2024/08/06/godmother-of-ai-says-californias-ai-bill-will-harm-us-ecosystem-tech-politic
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