OpenAI, in a post late last week, broke with the traditional assumption that all companies prefer fewer regulations when it asked California to add rules to its landmark AI safety law.
The company claims its public support for the Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act, or SB 53, which was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last September, is part of its efforts to “raise the safety and security bar across the industry.”
And yet, one expert said while part of OpenAI’s intention may be to help prevent a potential AI-fueled catastrophe, the company’s request may also allow it to maintain its head start in the AI industry by creating an obstacle for competitors. It could also help OpenAI demonstrate to regulators and investors it’s advocating for safe AI development after its own models hacked open-source AI platform Hugging Face last month.
OpenAI said in a Friday LinkedIn post uploaded by its global affairs team it believed California’s landmark AI law should go further than it already does to regulate AI, even though the company previously lobbied against the legislation last year.
The existing law requires large AI companies with $500 million or more in annual revenue to publish a safety framework detailing how they assess and mitigate potentially “catastrophic risks.” Those risks include scenarios in which AI could help create chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, autonomously carry out serious cyberattacks, or evade human control. The law also requires companies to describe how they protect their models from theft or tampering.
