Tech

California bill would take steps to stop AI models from causing catastrophic events : NPR

In California, a bill on artificial intelligence has drawn attention and criticism from the state's big tech industry. NPR's A. Martinez speaks with state Sen. Scott Wiener, the bill's sponsor.

Martonez, host:

In California, the tech industry is keeping an eye on a newly proposed AI bill. The bill says that large companies developing artificial intelligence must take reasonable steps to ensure their AI models don't cause catastrophic events — think biological weapons or mass casualty outbreaks. Now, some AI developers say the bill is an overreach that could stifle innovation. Others in the field say the potential risks of AI need to be taken seriously. The bill was authored by California Senator Scott Wiener. I asked Wiener what the purpose of the bill is.

Scott Wiener: This is a really light-touch basic safety measure that only applies to very large, powerful AI models that cost over $100 million to train. So I'm talking about big labs like Google, Meta, OpenAI, etc. I'm not talking about startups. It's not about startups. What this regulation is asking is that if you train and release a large-scale model that doesn't even exist today, but will exist in the near future, you conduct basic safety testing on that model to determine whether it poses significant risks of large-scale, catastrophic harm. To be clear, the big labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, etc. have already committed to conducting this testing. So we're just asking them to conduct the testing that they agreed to conduct.

MARTINEZ: So if someone has technology and it's used by someone else in a malicious way, in a harmful way or even in a deadly way, why should that company be held liable?

Wiener: First of all, people who use technology for bad purposes should be held accountable, and that is and always will be the case, but when we're talking about an incredibly powerful model, the likes of which we've never seen before as a human society, shouldn't we also try to reduce the risk that that model enables bad actors to do bad things?

MARTINEZ: Senator, right now I think a lot of people are concerned about the smaller risks that AI poses, like the possibility of losing their jobs to automation. I mean, your bill says that AI could enable nuclear war. I mean, is the technology really that advanced?

Wiener: The safety issues that this bill addresses are not the only challenges we have. Of course, there are also issues of algorithmic discrimination and deepfakes. And of course, those should be addressed and are being addressed. But as humans, we sometimes ignore risk until something terrible happens. That's what happened with social media. We've let social media go for years without doing anything to address the real harm it's causing. Why not get ahead of the risks once again?

MARTINEZ: Are you introducing this bill because Congress hasn't yet passed its own AI bill and it's moving slowly?

Wiener: Congress has a terrible track record of doing nothing to address the risks that technology poses. California, as a hub of technology and AI innovation, is in a position and has a responsibility to be proactive in fostering innovation. Let me be clear: AI is expected to bring many benefits to humanity, and I'm a big fan of AI, but we are also in a position to be proactive in our efforts to address some of the safety risks and mitigate those risks in a way that fosters innovation. So California should be proactive, because I'm not optimistic that Congress will do anything here.

Maltez: That's Senator Scott Wiener of California. Thank you very much.

WIENER: Thank you so much for having me.

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