Newsom vetoes California’s SB 1047 frontier AI bill

Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed SB 1047 on 29 September 2024, a bill requiring developers of large AI models to run safety tests and build in a shutdown capability, which had passed the Assembly 48-16 and the Senate 30-9 in August. He asked experts to help draft guardrails instead.

Why it mattered The veto turned back the furthest-advanced US attempt to regulate frontier AI developers directly. Newsom said the bill applied the same standards whether or not a system ran in a high-risk setting.

Corrections

2026-09-01 - This entry originally said Newsom “directed state agencies to draft rules instead.” The cited press release says he asked outside GenAI experts to help California draft guardrails, and separately ordered state agencies only to expand their assessment of catastrophic risks; corrected.