Exclusive: California Bill Proposes Regulating AI at State Level

A senior California lawmaker will introduce a new artificial intelligence (AI) bill to the state's senate on Wednesday, adding to national and global efforts to regulate the fast-accelerating technology. Although there are several attempts in Congress to draft AI legislation, the state of California--home to Silicon Valley, where most of the world's top AI companies are based--has a role to play in setting guardrails on the industry, according to state Senator Scott Wiener, (D--San Francisco) who drafted the bill. "In an ideal world we would have a strong federal AI regulatory scheme," Wiener said in an interview with TIME on Tuesday, adding that he supports attempts in Congress and the White House to regulate the technology. "But California has a history of acting when the federal government is moving either too slowly or not acting." He added: "We need to get ahead of these risks, not do what we've done in the past around social media or other technology, where we do nothing before it's potentially too late."