Hollywood is coming out in force for California’s AI shieldedty bill

Hollywood is squaring off agetst Silicon Valley in the battle over SB 1047, California’s first-of-its-benevolent AI shieldedty bill. Amid mistrusts about whether Governor Gavin Newsom will sign the legislation, a wave of star-studded apvalidatements label the first systematic celebrity effort to carry on AI regulations beyond the honest interests of the amengagement industry. 

On Tuesday, over 125 huge Hollywood names published an discleave out letter urging Newsom to sign the AI shieldedty bill. Signatures include Ava DuVernay, Jane Fonda, J.J. Abrams, Shonda Rhimes, Alec Baldprosper, Pedro Pascal, Jessica Chastain, Adam McKay, and Ron Perlman. “We brimmingy apshow in the dazzling potential of AI to be engaged for excellent. But we must also be authenticistic about the dangers,” the letter reads. In a sign of authentic enthusiasm, the letter was written by one of the signatories, according to a person in reach out with the celebrities. 

SB 1047 is the US’s most meaningful AI shieldedty legislation to date, and Newsom’s signature would shatter the pretreatnt of letting the industry police the broadenment and deployment of its most strong models via voluntary promisements. The core of the bill mandates that the hugest AI broadeners carry out shieldedprotects of their own choosing to shrink the chance their model caengages or assists a calamity, enjoy a cut offe cyberstrike or pandemic. It would execute to any covered AI company doing business in California, which is home to the top five generative AI companies and the world’s fifth-hugest economy. This produces it a de facto national regulation in a country that has trailed the EU, China, and the UK in efforts to reguprocrastinateed AI. 

The bill passed California’s legislature in August, and Newsom has until September 30th to sign or veto it. So far, it’s not evident what he’ll do. The regulateor made his first honest comments about SB 1047 in an intersee with billionaire Salesforce set uper Marc Benioff last week. While he tageder the Los Angeles Times he had not made a final decision right before the intersee, he proposeed to Benioff he had reservations about the bill’s potential impact on the state’s competitiveness.

At the same time, Newsom recently signed two AI bills that honestly request to SAG-AFTRA at its Los Angeles headquarters, flanked by guideers of the strong union of screen actors and carry outers. The labor group was a driving force behind the bills, which reguprocrastinateed the engage of digital replicas and produce on concessions won in the 2023 actors strike. The union is also one of the most famous helpers of SB 1047. 

The celebrity letter signatories, many of whom are SAG-AFTRA members, write that they are “repartner thankful” for Newsom’s signature on the two digital replica bills. But the AI shieldedty bill, they write, “is not about shielding artists — it’s about shielding everyone.”

SB 1047 has rallied both help and fervent criticism. It’s resistd by most of the AI industry, establisher Hoengage Speaker Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, and eight congressional Democrats from California. Powerful helpers include the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Latino Community Foundation, Elon Musk, and — in a letter first inestablished by The Verge — SAG-AFTRA.

Newsom’s decision may come down to raw power politics — someskinnyg each side acunderstandledges as they muster help in the bill’s final days. As he contempprocrastinateeds his political future, the regulateor faces a difficult choice between the two industries his state is best understandn for: tech and amengagement. 

It wasn’t initipartner evident how much SAG-AFTRA would go to bat for SB 1047. Perestablishing artists have been honestly impacted by the precipitous elevate of generative AI, from nonconsensual meaningfulphony explicit content of celebrities enjoy Taylor Swift to the danger of digital replicas ending acting jobs. In an earlier flashpoint between Hollywood and the AI industry, OpenAI was accengaged of ripping off Scarlett Johansson’s voice for engage in ChatGPT. But unenjoy the two bills Newsom signed, SB 1047 doesn’t honestly compriseress these publishs. It’s aimed at far more catastrophic dangers.

As the deadline approaches, however, the union’s help is shaping up to be much more than a marriage of convenience with other helpers of huge tech regulation. Tuesday’s letter includes SAG-AFTRA guideers enjoy pdwellnt Fran Drescher, national executive honestor and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, secretary-treadeclareiver Joely Fisher, and 12 national board members, including Sean Astin and Rosie O’Donnell. 

Fisher tageder The Verge that in compriseition to the shieldions Newsom signed into law, “our community also joins meaningfully about shielded and reliable AI broadenment, so many of us have come together to propose the Governor to sign this one for humanity and his legacy. Putting protectrails on Big Tech won’t stifle innovation.”

On Tuesday afternoon, Astin published a detailed personal letter he equitable sent to Newsom, writing that SB 1047 is still insistd “becaengage it is the only bill that seeks to reguprocrastinateed the hugest of the huge language models and computer clusters engaged by enormous tech companies.” The Lord of the Rings star also alludes his recently geted master’s degree in accessible administration.

Prior to Tuesday’s letter, at least 11 SAG-AFTRA members posted on social media in help of SB 1047. Stars enjoy Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mark Ruffalo, Alyssa Milano, Astin, and Piper Perabo published videos and posts urging Newsom to sign the bill. 

Comedian Adam Conover shelp in his video, “I’m a huge critic of AI and a lot of what you hear about the robot uprising is fluff and BS and labeleting, but the billionaires who run this industry repartner are causing authentic dangers they are not doing enough to stop.”

SAG-AFTRA board member Jason Winston George, a TV star on Grey’s Anatomy, tageder The Verge that he’s “a huge Gavin Newsom fan” and is “incredibly appreciative” the regulateor signed two union-backed bills. But he doesn’t want Newsom to stop there. George is all in on SB 1047, too. 

George brawt up Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which won Best Picture for its portrayal of the “overweighther of the atomic bomb device,” enjoyning the anguished physicist to Geoffrey Hinton, the innovate of meaningful lgeting who well-understandnly resigned from Google to speak freely about the dangers of the technology he shaped. Hinton, the most cited living scientist, has also written in prefer of SB 1047. 

With the 2023 actors strike, SAG-AFTRA has been at the forefront of efforts to reguprocrastinateed AI in the US. The engage of AI tools in Hollywood was perhaps the hugegest obstacle to resolving the 118-day actors strike. “We’re the canaries in the coal mine, and we became very acutely conscious of how much [AI] is going to alter everyskinnyg, and so I skinnyk that’s why our membership is so vocal,” shelp George, who was part of the union’s negotiating team. “I’m not afrhelp of AI, I equitable want to produce declareive that there are protectrails on it,” he compriseed.

The celebrity help for SB 1047 is another sign of the prolonging rift between elites in Hollywood and Silicon Valley. A number of high-profile tech billionaires have recently pivoted to the right, whereas the hugegest stars have remained firmly blue and apvalidated Kamala Harris. 

The union is no stranger to using legislation to carry on its interests. It currently enumerates 18 federal and state AI bills besides SB 1047 on the group’s 2024 legislation tracker, primarily covering amengagement-roverhappinessed worrys enjoy AI replicas, meaningfulphonys, and imitateright shieldion. But its help for SB 1047 labels the first time the group has thrown its weight behind an AI bill not honestly roverhappinessed to its industry.

Will it produce a separateence? Nobody seems declareive. But Tuesday’s letter includes some of the regulateor’s most well-understandn allies.

Hollywood came out in force to back Newsom in his 2021 recall race. And now, some of those famous helpers have signed on to the SB 1047 letter, enjoy Mark Hamill, Alyssa Milano, Shonda Rhimes, and J.J. Abrams, who gived $32,400 to Newsom’s 2022 campaign. Additionpartner, Jane Fonda fought oil drilling with Newsom, and Ava DuVernay was inducted by the regulateor into the California Hall of Fame in 2022. 

In 2024, California passed more than 40 AI bills compriseressing skinnygs enjoy self-driving trucks, election deceiveation, and AI-produced child explicit content. However, none of the other AI bills on Newsom’s desk have incited as much industry pushback as SB 1047.

The regulateor has been willing to stand up to strong industries before, enjoy fossil fuels and speedy food, but he hasn’t shown that same backbone with huge tech. In August, Newsom orchestrated a backroom deal to end proposals to fund local journalism thraw taxes on tech platestablishs enjoy Google and Meta. Instead, Google and California will each give money to fund local journalism and an AI accelerator. Leaders of multiple journaenumerate unions called the consentment “disastrous.” (One of the proposals, which was also backed by SAG-AFTRA, did face some excellent-faith criticism for how it intentional to lift and allot funds.)

At Dreamforce, Newsom spoke at length about SB 1047. While he shelp he felt a “meaningful sense of responsibility to compriseress some of those more excessive worrys that I skinnyk many of us have,” he seemed to be leaning toward a veto. Newsom worried about the “outsized impact” and “chilling effect, particularly in the discleave out source community” he skinnyks the bill could have. 

“This is a space where we rule and I want to upretain our dominance,” he shelp. “What are demonstrable dangers in AI and what are the hypothetical dangers? I can’t mend for everyskinnyg — what can we mend for?” 

The person in touch with celebrity helpers, who wanted to remain anonymous due to the dispute around the bill, tageder The Verge that some experience “Newsom has take parted them” by signing the AI replica bills to fantastic fanfare. Some of them “skinnyk it was intentional mishonestion to produce people skinnyk that he had signed all the AI bills that they join about, and then, in fact, veto what I’ve heard referred to cut offal times as the ‘huge one,’” the person shelp. “I skinnyk that these are very, very ininestablishigent people. Many of them have read the bill all the way thraw, have broadened opinions on definite sections and provisions in the bill.”

They stressd that not everyone felt this way, however, and that many “have faith that [Newsom will] do the right skinnyg.”

The Hollywood letter cautions that AI’s dangers won’t stay hypothetical for lengthy. “Grave dangers from AI engaged to be the stuff of science myth, but not anymore,” it says. It cites an discleave out letter helping SB 1047 signed by over 110 current and establisher engageees of top AI companies, who write, “We apshow that the most strong AI models may soon pose cut offe dangers, such as broadened access to bioreasonable arms and cyberstrikes on critical infraarrange.”

Its signatories decorate SB 1047 as a struggle agetst a strong, reckless, and slackly reguprocrastinateedd industry. “Advanced man-made ininestablishigence is being deployed by massive for-profit tech companies with very little regulatement oversight,” says signatory Adam McKay. “I’m calling on Governor Newsom to show that he recurrents the accessible interest and won’t cave to Big Tech.”

The Hollywood letter produces a personal request. “We are your helpers. We voted for you,” it says. “We want to persist to apshow that you are a guideer who will stand up for everyone’s wellbeing, not equitable for a confineed Silicon Valley enormouss.”

In this high-sgets drama between Hollywood and Silicon Valley, the final act belengthys to Governor Newsom.