Support continues to flood in for SB 1047

SB 1047, a Californian AI safety bill, has gained the approval of hundreds of influential actors, musicians, writers, and polticians.

In recent weeks, actors Mark Ruffalo, Sean Astin, and Piper Perabo have all published videos urging Governor Gavin Newsom to sign SB 1047, which currently sits on his desk after having passed the State Senate and State Assembly.

An open letter signed by over 125 artists, including the actors named above, has been sent to Governor Newsom this week. It states that whilst the “grave threats” of AI used to be limited to the realm of science fiction, this is no longer the case.

Listed below are just some of the actors, musicians, and directors who have signed the letter.

  • JJ Abrams, director (Lost, Star Wars)
  • Alec Baldwin, actor (The Cooler, 30 Rock)
  • Pedro Pascal, actor (Narcos, The Mandalorian)
  • Jane Fonda, actress (Klute, Coming Home)
  • Kelly Rowland, singer
  • Mark Ruffalo, actor (Avengers, Shutter Island)
  • Mark Hamill, actor (Star Wars)
  • Grimes, singer-songwriter
  • Joseph Gordon-Levitt, actor (Inception, 500 Days of Summer)
  • Adam McKay, filmmaker (Anchorman, Don’t Look Up)
  • Shonda Rimes, producer (Grey’s Anatomy, Bridgerton)
  • Don Cheadle, actor (Avengers, Hotel Rwanda)
  • Judd Apatow, filmmaker (Pineapple Express, The 40-Year-Old Virgin)
  • DIIV, indie rock band

The authors of the letter explain that they “believe that the most powerful AI models may soon pose severe risks, such as expanded access to biological weapons and cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.” As such, the argue that it’s “feasible and appropriate” for companies building frontier AI models to implement reasonable guardrails that protect the public from the risks posed by their products.

Astin, known for his roles in The Goonies and The Lord of the Rings, added “we must safeguard our children’s future from potential AI risks while celebrating responsible innovation.”

“Let’s ensure AI comes with safety & cybersecurity protections,” argued Bill de Blasio, the former Mayor of New York City, who has signed a petition from Accountable Tech asking for the same as the above artists.

The bill, which would only apply to the largest AI models, would implement basic safety standards. Developers of these frontier models would be required to submit reasonable evidence of risk mitigation, and would be held liable if the model were to cause mass casualties or at least $500 million in damages through eventualities such as bioweapons or cyberattacks.

SB 1047 is overwhelmingly popular with the general public. A whopping 78% of voters nationwide, and 70% of those within the state, are in favour of the bill.

This public support is in line with the views of the two most cited AI researchers of all time, Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, who back in August, warned lawmakers that the coming generation of AI models pose potentially catastrophic risks to society if they are not developed with “sufficient care and oversight”.

Hinton and Bengio, along with fellow AI expert Stuart Russell and Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig, pointed out that “there are fewer regulations on AI systems that could pose catastrophic risks than on sandwich shops or hairdressers”, and that SB 1047 is the “bare minimum” for effective AI guardrails.

Read more: SB 1047 ‘reasonable first step’ according to Hinton, Bengio, and Russell

Head of TED, Chris Anderson, is yet another figure to write to Governor Newsom in support of the bill. “You are about to make a momentous decision this week,” writes Anderson, who argues that the bill will “will significantly increase the chances that, if future AI models have extremely dangerous features (like the ability to create and deploy new bioweapons), those features will be detected, and our society can prepare.”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who was a signatory of the Asilomar AI Principles (a set of AI governance protocols published by the Future of Life Institute in 2017), spoke with Sneha Revanur of youth movement Encode Justice to discuss the bill. “SB 1047,” explained 19-year-old Revanur, “is common sense legislation” that encourages AI companies to “take basic safety precautions to hopefully prevent their AI models from being misused to do really, really bad things, like creating a bioweapon, or engineering a pandemic […].”

Gordon-Levitt takes issue with Silicon Valley’s catchphrase, arguing it may not apply to artificial intelligence.

In Silicon Valley, they love to say “Move fast and break things.” But with tech this powerful, maybe it should be “Move as fast as possible while being careful not to break anything.”

Tim Ferris, author of The 4-Hour Work Week, and Liv Boeree, science communicator and former professional poker player, are two more names that have gone public with their support for SB 1047.

Read more: Voters would blame Gavin Newsom for an AI catastrophe if he vetoes SB 1047

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