Newsom orders AI safety expert panel

California's governor issued an executive order on September 18 to convene national experts who will deliver recommendations for strengthening the state's AI safety and security laws within two months.

Key proposals under consideration

The expert panel will evaluate requiring onsite independent audits at frontier AI labs, verifying safety frameworks and risk assessments, creating kill switches for AI models, and updating definitions of critical safety incidents.

California's existing AI laws

The state already has regulations covering frontier model safety, independent oversight, children's chatbots, privacy, deepfakes, fraud, cybersecurity, worker protections, and government AI deployment.

Newsom criticizes federal inaction

The governor said the federal government's failure to create meaningful AI oversight should alarm Americans, especially when AI CEOs themselves are requesting regulation.

“We're not waiting to act; we're going to speed up our work on substantial and responsible AI oversight before it's too late.”

Recent California AI legislation

In September, Newsom signed bills creating the nation's first framework for independent AI verification organizations and a companion chatbot law requiring independent auditing as part of product safety.

Protecting children from AI harms

In October, Newsom signed a bill making California the first state to regulate AI chatbots, protecting children and vulnerable users from exploitation and misinformation.

“Without real guardrails, technology can also exploit, mislead and endanger our kids.”