California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom recently convened a meeting that could rank among the worst nightmare scenarios for Silicon Valley's tech bros, a group of the Golden State's smartest and most powerful women discussing ways to regulate artificial intelligence.
Regulation is the last thing needed This is exactly what this California dominated industry wants and has spent a lot of money in both state and federal capitals to avoid it, including funding President Trump. new ballroom. Regulation by a group of women, many mothers, where profit comes second to our children when it comes to problems?
I'll let you find out how popular this will be with the Elon Musks, Peter Thiels and Mark Zuckerbergs of the world.
But as Siebel Newsom said: “If a platform reaches a child, it has a responsibility to protect that child. Period. The safety of our children can never come second to profit.”
Agreed.
Siebel Newsom's push for California to do more to regulate AI comes at the same time Trump is threatening to prevent states from regulating the technology — and ramping up a national effort that will open America's coffers to AI moguls for decades to come.
Right now, the US is facing its own nightmare scenario: the most powerful and world-changing technology we have ever seen is being developed and deployed with almost no rules or restrictions other than those chosen by people who seek personal gain from the outcome.
Simply put, the plan at the moment seems to be that these tech barons will change the world as they see fit to make money for themselves, and we, as taxpayers, will pay them for it.
“When decisions are driven primarily by power and profit rather than by care and responsibility, we are completely off track, and given the current relationship between tech titans and the federal administration, I believe we have lost our way,” Siebel Newsom said.
To summarize, Trump recently tried to introduce a 10-year ban on states' ability to regulate the industry in his ridiculously titled “Big Beautiful Bill,” but it was killed by a bipartisan group in the Senate, an early indicator of how inflammatory this problem is.
Faced with this unexpected blockade, Trump threatened to sign mysterious decree undermining the ability of states to regulate AI and trying to withhold funds from those who try.
At the same time, the most craven and cowardly Republicans in Congress proposed adding a 10-year ban to the upcoming defense policy bill, which is almost certain to pass. Of course, Congress has also refused to advance any meaningful federal regulations while tech executives, including Trump's nemesis Musk, Apple's Tim Cook, Meta's Zuckerberg and many others, discuss it at fancy White House events.
Perhaps that's why Trump announced this week:Genesis Mission“, an executive order that will apparently bring together the unimaginable scale of government research efforts in various disciplines and combine them into some kind of artificial intelligence model that “revolutionize the way scientific research is conducted.»
While I'm sure nothing can go wrong in this scenario, it's not really the part that immediately raises alarm bells. Here's the thing: The project will be overseen by Trump science and technology policy adviser Michael Kratsios, who has no science or engineering degrees but was previously Thiel's top executive and the former head of another artificial intelligence company that is working on war-related projects with the Pentagon.
Kratsios is credited as one of the main reasons why Trump treated his tech bros with such adoration during his second term. Genesis will almost certainly mean huge government contracts for these private sector “partners,” fueling the AI boom (or bubble) with taxpayer dollars.
Siebel Newsom's message in the face of all this is that we are not helpless—and California, as the home of many of these companies and the world's fourth-largest economy in its own right, must have a say in how these technologies are developed and ensure that it happens in a way that benefits and protects us all.
“California is uniquely positioned to lead the effort by demonstrating innovation and responsibility and how they can go hand in hand,” she said. “I've always believed that stronger security measures are actually good for business in the long run. More secure technology means better outcomes for consumers and greater consumer trust and loyalty.”
But as Siebel Newsom's husband knows, the pressure to succumb to the power of these companies is great.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has spent the last few years trying to understand state law it provides the kind of control while allowing innovation that rightfully keeps California and the United States competitive on the global front. The tech industry has spent millions on lobbying, litigation and pressure campaigns to stymie even the most beneficial efforts, even threatening to leave the state if the rules are passed.
Last year the industry tried unsuccessfully to stop Senate Bill 53, a landmark law signed by Newsom. This is a basic measure of transparency in “edge” AI models that requires companies to have safety protocols and report known “catastrophic” risks, such as when these models exhibit a propensity for behavior that could result in the death of more than 50 people – which they have, believe it or not.
But the industry was able to stop other efforts. Newsom vetoed both Senate Bill 7, which would have required employers to notify workers when using AI in hiring and promotions; and House Bill 1064, which would prohibit companion chatbot operators from providing access to these artificial intelligence systems to minors unless they could prove they would not do things like encourage children to self-harm, which again these chatbots did.
However, California (along with New York and several other states) has moved forward, and speaking at a Siebel Newsom event, the governor said that last session, “we took a number of hits and made tremendous progress.”
He promised more.
“We have freedom of action. We can shape the future,” he said. “We have a unique responsibility with regard to these technological tools because, well, it's the center of this universe.”
If Newsom continues to move forward, it will be in no small part thanks to Siebel Newsom and women like her who continue to apply counter pressure.
In fact, it was another influential mom, First Lady Melania Trump, who got the federal government to take small action this year when she came out in defense “An Act to repeal this law”»which requires tech companies to quickly remove explicit images taken without consent. I sincerely doubt that her husband would have signed this particular bill without her urging.
So, if we're lucky, the efforts of women like Siebel Newsom may be just the shot of powerful sanity needed to put an end to the bro-ligarchy's fantasies of world domination.
Because the technical brothers are not yet omnipotent, despite all their efforts, and, of course, they are not yet immune from the power of moms.
