In the Media

THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: AI companies asked for regulation. Now that it’s coming, some are furious

06. 28. 2024

The San Francisco Chronicle published this article.

California legislators have responded with bills aimed at outlawing unfair bias by AI decision-making programs, trying to mitigate its effects on elections through false and misleading information, and demanding insight into how models are trained, among more than a dozen other proposed pieces of legislation.

“As we’ve seen with the creation and expansion of the internet and social media, we cannot count on this industry to self-regulate,” said Teri Olle, director of Economic Security California Action, which cosponsored one of the bills. “They simply won’t put public interest above their profits — as they have proven time and again.”

But now that proposed rules are moving forward, companies are crying foul, saying that holding them liable for the downstream uses of the technology they build will stifle innovation and force a multibillion dollar industry out of California altogether.