California lawmakers pass AI safety bill SB 53 — but Newsom could still veto

The bill now goes to California governor Gavin Newsom to sign or veto. He has not commented publicly on SB 53, but last year, he vetoed a more expansive safety bill also authored by Wiener, while signing narrower legislation targeting issues like deepfakes.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/13/california-lawmakers-pass-ai-safety-bill-sb-53-but-newsom-could-still-veto/

At the time, Newsom acknowledged the importance of “protecting the public from real threats posed by this technology,” but criticized Wiener’s previous bill for applying “stringent standards” to large models regardless of whether they were “deployed in high-risk environments, [involved] critical decision-making or the use of sensitive data.

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