California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed several bills concerning the use of artificial intelligence, including regulating political campaign deepfakes and protecting the digital likeness of voice actors. But the governor has yet to sign SB 1047, the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act. The legislation — which primarily concerns harm and steps a developer must take to limit harm — has created a debate about innovation, safety and the appropriate role of government, particularly at the state level, in AI regulation.

Technology expert Dr. Greg McNeal from Pepperdine University told “Inside the Issues” host Amrit Singh there are two sides to the perspective.

“I think if you start from the position that these models have the potential for harm, even if it’s unspecified,” he said. “It’s a little bit of the ‘Terminator,’ Doomsday approach. You’ll be in that camp with Elon Musk and others. And if you believe that innovation best happens the way it did on the internet for example in the ‘90s up until today, then you would want a light touch approach to not regulate, to allow the market to develop, to allow innovation to flourish.”

Another debate focuses on whether the law will hinder innovation or enhance accountability. The bill’s author, Sen. Scott Wiener, argues the law won’t stifle innovation since the legislation only applies to large AI developers who are spending more than $100 million to train their AI models and does not apply to startups.

McNeal responded by saying, “The idea that only those who spend $100 million on training these models is just the large companies is a little disconnected from the state of where venture capital funding is at right now. There are many companies that are raising substantial, hundred and hundreds of millions of dollars and multi-billion-dollar valuations.”

There are currently 50 bills pending in states seeking to regulate AI. 

Click the arrow above to watch the entire interview with McNeal.

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