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Newsom orders tighter AI oversight in California
The governor directed the state to speed up existing AI rules and draft new safety measures for frontier models. One option under review is an emergency shutdown mechanism.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order calling for stronger oversight of the artificial intelligence industry, Courthouse News reported. The move calls for independent audits, third-party review and a faster buildout of the state’s regulatory framework.
The order instructs experts to convene and, within two months, produce guidance on how California can strengthen its AI safety and security laws. The ideas listed include third-party safety plans for frontier AI companies and a requirement that frontier models have an emergency shutdown, or kill switch.
Newsom argued that the absence of meaningful federal regulation means California should move ahead on its own. As part of that effort, he wants to accelerate implementation of two laws: Senate Bill 813, which creates a system for independent organizations to assess AI for safety and risk, and Assembly Bill 1405, which sets up a state registry for auditors who review AI systems for compliance.
Courthouse News said the expert group will also study whether the state should create a designated independent verification body for audits and evaluations, as well as update the definition of critical safety incidents to cover events like the summer Hugging Face attack, in which AI models exploited a software weakness to gain internet access.
Newsom framed the order as an expansion of California’s existing AI policy. He pointed to his 2023 executive order aimed at promoting ethical, transparent and trustworthy AI, and to the Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act, which he signed in 2025. That law requires developers to publicly disclose their safety framework, report certain incidents to the state and protect whistleblowers who reveal serious problems.
State Senator Scott Wiener, who authored both bills cited in the order, backed the move and said emergency shutdown procedures would provide concrete guardrails against serious risks, according to Courthouse News.
Last week, Newsom also signed 13 bills related to social media, artificial intelligence and related technology. One of them was Adam’s Law, written by state Senator Steve Padilla, which places obligations on chatbot operators, including age checks, safeguards and default settings that only a parent can change.
Courthouse News reported that the law is named after Adam Raine, a 16-year-old whose case was described in a lawsuit filed by his mother in San Francisco Superior Court.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
