Senate Bill 892 requires the California Department of Technology to establish and implement regulations for an AI risk management standard. This legislation would prohibit state agencies from contracting for automated decision systems (ADS) without including a clause in the contract that provides a risk assessment for the system. This prohibition would begin six months after the regulations are adopted.
Senate Bill 893 requires a collaborative effort — between the Government Operations Agency, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development and the Department of Technology — for the creation of the California Artificial Intelligence Research Hub. This research hub would act as the primary entity enabling collaboration between government entities, academic institutions and private-sector organizations for AI research and development.
Barring the federal executive order on artificial intelligence and regulatory examples from outside the U.S. such as the European Union AI Act, regulation in the U.S. has happened largely at the state and local level. For California, this includes guidelines for state procurement of generative AI and exploring how policy can protect election integrity.
“Protecting Californians is a bipartisan issue,” said Sen. Steve Padilla, author of the two bills, in an announcement. “We cannot wait on Congress to lead while we wait vulnerable to the whims of tech billionaires.”
Each of the bills passed in the state senate by a vote of 37-0.
Hubs akin to that described in Senate Bill 893 have proven to be a popular model, with similar efforts announced in other states including New Jersey and New York.
Both bills have now been ordered to the Assembly for review.
