California governor vetoes controversial AI safety law, tells everyone to start over

California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed a controversial AI bill, tho don't assume it was necessarily a final win for the tech industry. 

On Sunday, Newsom (D) returned California Senate Bill 1047 to the legislature unsigned, explaining in an accompanying statement [PDF] that the bill doesn't take the right approach to ensuring or requiring AI safety. That said, the matter isn't concluded: Newsom wants the US state's lawmakers to hand him a better bill.

"Let me be clear - I agree with the [bill's] author - we cannot afford to wait for a major catastrophe to occur before taking action to protect the public," Newsom said.

"I do not agree, however, that to keep the public safe, we must settle for a solution that is not informed by an empirical trajectory analysis of AI systems and capabilities."

Newsom's criticism of the bill centers on the sort ...