Newsom’s new AI report could shape legislation

Scheduling note: WhatMatters is taking Juneteenth off and will return to your inboxes on Monday.

From CalMatters technology reporter Khari Johnson:

When Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed California’s most high-profile artificial intelligence regulation last fall, he simultaneously asked the state’s deep bench of AI researchers to recommend guardrails that balance safety and innovation. The result of that work, The California Report on Frontier AI Policy report, was released earlier this week.

The report stresses transparency-focused regulations such as whistleblower protections and audits by independent third-parties — mirroring a draft of the report released in March. It also highlights how AI has changed in the past three months, including improvements in its ability to act independently and to help people make dangerous weapons or carry out cyber attacks. 

In one example, a language model from the AI company Anthropic threatened to blackmail engineers and tell their partners they cheated on them, according to an evaluation by the company. Another assessment found that highly advanced AI models, known as “frontier models,” can tell when they’re being evaluated. 

These reports do not indicate an immediate risk, but underscore the speed of progress of the technology, and that such risks must be taken seriously, said Scott Singer, one of the report’s lead writers, in an interview with CalMatters.

The California Legislature is considering numerous bills to regulate AI, including measures that require online platforms to label AI-generated content and mandate protocols for how chatbots deal with people who talk about self harm. Another prevents developers from blaming AI for harm in court. State Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, said in a statement that his office is considering which report recommendations to incorporate into a bill that protects AI whistleblowers.

The report does not address a decade-long pause on state AI regulation beyond encouraging coordination with other governments to avoid the compliance burden for businesses that Republicans in Congress used to justify the proposed moratorium.

Despite protests winding down in Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass ending the downtown curfew and the local police department reporting no arrests related to the demonstrations since Saturday, President Donald Trump’s administration said Tuesday it is deploying 2,000 more California National Guard troops into the city.

The mobilization follows the administration’s June 9 order, bringing the total number of National Guard troops in L.A. to 4,100. A federal appeals court case to determine whether the troops can stay in L.A. under Trump’s command is still ongoing. 

Meanwhile, California’s food and restaurant industries — which employ about 1.42 million people as of April — have been rattled by the immigration raids, write CalMatters’ Levi Sumagaysay and Lauren Hepler. 

Some restaurants have closed temporarily, street vendors have gone into hiding and food festivals and farmers markets have been canceled. Adriana Gomez Salazar, who is able to work legally in the U.S. and is the owner of an Altadena-based food truck, said she had to shut down her business for now to protect herself and her workers.

• Salazar: “I have no idea how long I’m going to be shut down for. Trump can say a lot of things (about pausing ICE raids) but he has also said he wants to do the biggest mass deportations in history.”

Read more here.

A month ago, state Sen. Sabrina Cervantes was involved in a car accident near the state Capitol, after which Sacramento police officers accused her of driving under the influence. The Riverside Democrat immediately denied this, and was exonerated after a blood test proved she had no drugs or alcohol in her system.

Cervantes is now considering suing Sacramento police, arguing that her arrest was “politically motivated.” The police department, however, says officers “remained professional throughout.”

Between these two conflicting narratives, it’s difficult for the public to determine which is the most accurate.

As CalMatters’ Ryan Sabalow and Jeanne Kuang explain, authorities are refusing to release records about the incident. CalMatters has requested body camera footage, police reports and search warrants, but has so far been denied the records from the police department and the county’s district attorney’s office.

David Snyder, the executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, said it is concerning that officials are refusing to release information related to a criminal investigation of an elected public official, and that “the public is entitled to see what the police know and what they believed at the time.”

Meanwhile Cervantes is “100% behind any and all records being released,” according to her attorney. 

Read more here.

To help California’s struggling film industry, Gov. Newsom wants to increase the state’s investment in film and television tax credits. CalMatters’ Yue Stella Yu and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on why legislators from both sides of the aisle oppose the proposal. Watch it here.

And check out another video from CalMatters’ Rachel Becker and Robert about the backlash facing another Newsom plan to fast-track the $20 billion Delta Tunnel project. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.