{"id":122156,"date":"2026-07-29T00:27:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T00:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/122156\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T00:27:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T00:27:24","slug":"editorial-ai-regulation-vexes-california-and-congress-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/122156\/","title":{"rendered":"Editorial: AI regulation vexes California and Congress \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

After making a major push to further regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI) last year, the California Legislature seems content to nibble around the edges as session comes to a close. The latest measures mostly add unnecessary regulations and increase liability for tech and business firms, epitomizing a\u00a0\u201cdeath by a 1,000 cuts<\/a>\u201d approach rather than a far-reaching regulatory strategy.<\/p>\n

One bill, Senate Bill 1000, would require AI developers to disclose if generative AI created or altered content. Another,\u00a0Senate Bill 300<\/a>, requires \u201cchatbot platforms to establish protocols to detect, remove and respond to instances of suicidal ideation, suicide or self-harm expressed by users.\u201d The latter is particularly problematic as it would impose a strict liability standard that \u2014 and what else is new? \u2014 could lead to an avalanche of lawsuits.<\/p>\n

Assembly Bill 2545<\/a>\u00a0would mainly expand the state\u2019s bureaucracy by creating a 14-member advisory board within the Employment Development Department to review \u201cexisting data collection systems and gaps in data collection related to the use and impact of advanced AI systems.\u201d That\u2019s the same EDD that handed out billions of dollars in improper COVID-related\u00a0payments<\/a>, so we\u2019re skeptical it can successfully oversee the complexities of AI data gathering.<\/p>\n

Assembly Bill 2575<\/a>\u00a0is a labor-oriented measure that limits healthcare facilities\u2019 use of AI that, per the committee analysis, is designed to address \u201cconcerns from health care workers that deployment\u201d of AI systems \u201cmay override their professional judgment and that their decision to exercise their own judgment \u2026 might subject them to adverse treatment in the workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

In August, the first part of the\u00a0\u201cCalifornia AI Transparency Act\u201d<\/a>\u00a0goes into effect. It requires large AI firms to label their photos, videos and images to protect people from thinking they might be real. California isn\u2019t the only state that\u2019s releasing AI proposals and laws in dribs and drabs, as legislators nationwide have introduced an estimated\u00a01,800 AI-related bills this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last fall, the industry dodged a bullet as one of the highest-profile measures,\u00a0Assembly Bill 1018<\/a>, stalled on its third attempt. That bill epitomizes the state\u2019s dated approach toward AI regulation. The Legislature wants to recycle the heavy-handed regulatory approach embraced by the Biden administration and the European Union.<\/p>\n

The bill targeted Advanced Decision Systems. Per one committee analysis, \u201crelying on ADS to make consequential decisions can be hazardous if the systems are not trained carefully or tested thoroughly.\u201d Supporters \u2014 mostly unions and progressive activists \u2014 fear AI systems will pre-empt humans on \u201capartment leases, school admissions, and, in the workplace, hiring, firing, promotions and disciplinary actions,\u201d CalMatters\u00a0explains<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to opposition from a business-community coalition, the bill exposed \u201csmaller businesses to significant \u2014 if not devastating \u2014 liability even for mere errors that caused no harm to consumers, but it would also hinder many beneficial uses of ADS.\u201d Unfortunately, we can expect that measure to come back next session.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

We expressed optimism at the Trump administration pro-growth approach to AI, but it has recently taken a detour toward a regulation-oriented\u00a0federal approach<\/a>\u00a0in service to its national security and protectionist priorities. That\u2019s too bad, as California\u2019s commitment to the old Biden strategy speaks to the need for a sensible set of innovation-focused national standards.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re seeing some\u00a0bipartisan efforts<\/a>\u00a0in Congress, but it\u2019s not yet clear if enough lawmakers are listening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After making a major push to further regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI) last year, the California Legislature seems content…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,11905,1651],"class_list":["post-122156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-editorials","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}