California Senator Wiener has responded to OpenAI’s opposition to the AI safety bill SB 1047. Senator Wiener stated that the AI firm has not criticized any recommendations made in the bill. He also objected to OpenAI insisting the issue be left to Congress.

Senator Wiener introduced the bill in February 2024. Under the bill, AI firms are required to maintain rigorous safety checks on their models before they are rolled out to the public. Wiener issued his public response after OpenAI, the company responsible for developing ChatGPT, opposed the bill.

OpenAI argues the issue should be left to Congress

In a recent press release, Wiener shared his thoughts on OpenAI’s opposition to the AI safety bill. “What’s notable about the OpenAI letter is that it doesn’t criticize a single provision of the bill,” Wiener said.

Wiener also appreciated OpenAI’s acknowledgment of the core provisions of the bill. However, the senator highlighted that the AI firm argued that the issue of safety should be left to Congress instead of directly replying to the concerns he raised.

He raised his skepticism about Congress’ failure to handle the issue so far, saying:

“As I’ve stated repeatedly, I agree that ideally Congress would handle this. However, Congress has not done so, and we are skeptical Congress will do so.”

Wiener also mentioned that going by OpenAI’s argument, California would have passed the law under data privacy. According to Wiener, this would not have given Californians data protection.

ChatGPT developer raises national security concerns

Wiener completely dismissed OpenAI’s claims that his bill raises national security concerns. Instead, he believes that the AI safety bill will force artificial intelligence firms to commit to more rigorous product testing, which will inevitably strengthen national security.

As a closing statement to its opposition, OpenAI highlighted that the company would leave California if the bill passed. Wiener mentioned that the statement makes no sense as the SB 1047 bill is not limited to firms headquartered in California.

The senator pointed out that the bill even applies to firms that do business in California. “As a result, locating outside of California does not avoid compliance with the bill,” Wiener said. Wiener concluded his response by stating that the AI safety bill is a highly reasonable one. He pinpointed that the bill is just asking AI labs to do what they have already committed to doing.