SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Generative Artificial Intelligence Accountability Act was signed into law on Sunday and aims to build on national and state guidelines addressing the use of the technology.
The bill, also known as Senate Bill 896, establishes guidelines for artificial intelligence-based decision making, requires government agencies to notify users when they interact with an artificial intelligence (AI), and also asks government agencies to identify opportunities where generative artificial intelligence intelligence can improve the efficiency of government agencies.
“Today we are taking a major step toward identifying potential issues with generative AI and developing appropriate guidance to protect our state and the public as we take advantage of this transformative technology,” said Senator Dodd, who introduced the bill written. “Because we know that AI has enormous potential to improve our lives and the functioning of government. But we also know that it comes with risks, especially the threat to consumer privacy, transparency and honesty. This new law will help us address many of these concerns.”
Senate Bill 896 passed unanimously in the Assembly and Senate before being signed into law, Senator Dodd’s office shared in a press release Monday about the bill’s passage.
“SB 896 codifies several key aspects of this EO (Executive Order), including directing CalOES (Governor’s Office of Emergency Services) to conduct risk assessments on potential threats that could affect the use of GenAI (Generative Artificial Intelligence) for the critical infrastructure of California,” Governor Newsom wrote in a signing statement on the bill. “Under this leadership, CalOES has worked with frontier model companies to analyze energy infrastructure risks and convene energy sector providers to share threats and security strategies. Building on this work, and by signing this bill, I further direct CalOES order to undertake the same risk assessment with water infrastructure providers in the coming year, and the communications sector shortly thereafter.”
This legislation builds on the 2023 White House Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, California’s ongoing generative artificial intelligence reports, and follows State Senator Bill Dodd’s Concurrent Resolution 17, the first AI-authored state resolution in history.
