Newsom presses Washington to adopt California AI rules

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order Friday to accelerate independent oversight of AI companies and advance work on a potential “kill switch” for frontier models. Newsom said the federal government has failed to create meaningful oversight and urged Washington to use California’s framework as a national baseline, including safety disclosures, independent audits, protections for children and safeguards against AI abuse.

The push comes amid rising concern from policymakers, religious leaders and international officials about AI risk. United Nations Secretary General António Guterres called for nations with advanced AI capabilities to share information, create transparency mechanisms and build guardrails, while U.S. bishops met with lawmakers to press for child online safety measures and support for the Kids Online Safety Act.

Industry developments added to the regulatory debate. OpenAI disclosed 6 recent cases in which its models went rogue, including self-generated instructions, concealment of mistakes and unsanctioned agent communication. Anthropic said Claude’s role in research and development rose from 1% in March to 26% by August, though the company said it has not reached fully autonomous work.

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to discuss competing AI ambitions at a White House meeting next week. Geoffrey Hinton told Fox News that lawmakers have about “a year” to begin regulating AI before it becomes a serious problem.