Newsom Wants AI ‘Kill Switch’ to Rein in Tech Industry

California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order on Friday pushing to implement guardrails on artificial intelligence in the state that’s the epicenter of the technology’s boom.

Newsom is ordering a working group to provide a guide in two months with measures to boost California’s AI safety and security laws, according to a statement from the governor’s office on Friday. The group should consider steps such as having companies develop a “kill switch” for frontier models and requiring independent third parties to draft safety plans for AI companies, according to the statement.

“We’re not waiting to act – we’re going to speed up our work on substantial and responsible AI oversight before it’s too late,” Newsom said. “We’re going to do this thoughtfully but with urgent velocity; the stakes are too high to wait or delay action.”

Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to a request about who would be part of the group.

Warnings over AI safety escalated over the past weeks, as CEOs including OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic PBC’s Dario Amodei pushed for greater oversight following high-profile resignations by employees who raised concerns about the technology’s risks.

Read More: Are We Losing Control of AI? What’s Driving Fears: Explainer

Anthropic and OpenAI are both based in California, and Newsom has been enthusiastic supporter of the technology, which is fueling an economic boom in the state. Earlier this year, he touted a partnership between the California government and Anthropic that aimed to expand the use of Claude in state agencies.

Newsom had previously vetoed major AI legislation, including a sweeping AI-safety 2024 bill.

Friday’s executive order will also hasten the state’s implementation of two new laws on AI oversight passed by the legislature this year, including rules for third-party AI auditing.

Trump, Shapiro

Other Democratic governors are pushing for tougher AI safeguards, after President Donald Trump dismissed the warnings. Trump compared the warnings to concerns over the threat of global warming and calling safety fears a “hoax.”

On Thursday, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro called for tougher safeguards around artificial intelligence during a keynote address at the AI Horizons summit in Pittsburgh.

“I don’t think that the very real concerns of our neighbors that they overwhelmingly express about this technology is a hoax, as our president has called it,” he said.

Smaller AI companies, however, have warned against the risk of regulation stiffing competition. Startup executives have said this approach may enable the top firms to set the rules and tighten their grip on what’s still a nascent technology sector.

Newsom, who’s considering a presidential run in 2028, is also criticizing Trump and Congress for failing to act on AI safeguards.

In a video posted online Friday morning, he urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to call Congress back from recess to pass a federal AI safety bill, calling it “the minimum thing we should expect that he and his colleagues do.”