Newsom Signs Order to Speed Up California's AI Safety Rules and Shutoff Protocol

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed an executive order aimed at accelerating the state's artificial intelligence safety framework, including the development of an emergency shutdown mechanism commonly referred to as an AI kill switch.

The directive advances the timeline for oversight of AI auditors by a full year and requires closer monitoring of advanced machine learning models. It also establishes guidelines for external evaluations, incident disclosures, and technical protocols to halt potentially compromised systems.

"Today, I'm signing an executive order to speed up a first in America AI safety policy that we have here in California," Newsom said. "It dramatically speeds up our new law, creating a framework for truly independent safety checks, independent verification organizations, as well as moving the timeline up for oversight of AI auditors up by a full year."

The order sets up regulatory structures for powerful computational systems while expediting compliance reviews. State officials plan to create recurring evaluation procedures and formal channels for mandatory breach alerts, referencing earlier industry vulnerabilities.

"This also begins an effort to tighten our safety and security requirements for powerful AI systems as well as models, laying the foundation for requiring third-party safety verification on an ongoing basis, as well as more mandatory reporting of incidents like the hugging face hack," Newsom said.

A central element of the order involves formalizing protocols for an operational kill switch. State authorities intend to convene advisory panels to define technical criteria for emergency shutdowns before codifying rules into official policy.

"And advancing efforts to create an emergency shutoff, otherwise known as an AI kill switch, which means a lot of things, depending on who you talk to," Newsom said. "So we want to flesh out exactly what that means and how to come up with a framework that works. So we're going to convene experts as we did with the creation of SB 53 to figure out the right path forward."

Addressing federal lawmakers, the governor criticized congressional delays in enacting uniform technological guardrails. He urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to reconvene legislators and adopt California's baseline measures nationwide.

"California will do what it can, but this nation needs to get in the game. Washington, DC needs to do its job. Remarkably, they left for a summer break," Newsom said. "Mike Johnson should return from vacation and follow California's lead by passing national legislation. Get it done."

He concluded with an appeal for federal action: "That's what leadership requires, setting a comprehensive safety framework as a floor. It's the minimum thing we should expect that he and his colleagues do. Our model, the California model, works. And if Congress again won't act, California will."