Elon Musk unexpectedly endorsed a high-profile California bill that would regulate artificial intelligence technology – including his own startup, xAI.
The billionaire owner of Tesla and X expressed support on Monday evening for California’s SB 1047, while several of his top industry rivals remain opposed.
The bill would establish safety standards for AI models that cost more than $100 million to train, mandate pre-release safety testing for so-called “frontier” AI models and establish other guardrails.
“This is a tough call and will make some people upset, but, all things considered, I think California should probably pass the SB 1047 AI safety bill,” Musk wrote on X. “For over 20 years, I have been an advocate for AI regulation, just as we regulate any product/technology that is a potential risk to the public.”
Musk’s xAI — home to the Grok chatbot — would likely be subject to the legislation, even after he revealed plans to move the headquarters of his companies X and SpaceX from California to Texas.
Microsoft-backed OpenAI has shown support for AB 3211, another California AI bill. The bill would require tech companies to label AI-generated content.
The “watermark” bill comes as experts have voiced their concerns about the role AI could play in the upcoming US presidential election, as well as other votes across the world.
Already, former president Donald Trump landed in hot water after he shared AI-generated images that falsely depicted pop star Taylor Swift and her fans, so-called “Swifties,” endorsing him.
Musk’s own X updated its AI chatbot Grok after secretaries of state accused the bot of spreading election misinformation.
Now when users ask the bot about the upcoming election, Grok directs them to visit Vote.org.
X has not addressed complaints about the bot’s ability to create and spread misleading AI-generated images.
Musk’s support for the regulatory bill comes as a surprise, since the billionaire has been a vocal critic of California’s policies – including the state’s recent passage of a student gender identity law.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law in July banning school policies that required teachers to “out” transgender students to their parents, which Musk called “the final straw.”
The tech billionaire claimed the gender identity law pushed him to move SpaceX headquarters out of California.
