California builds a system of licensed AI auditors and wants a kill switch for frontier models
New laws create independent verification bodies and an auditor registry. An executive order speeds them up and asks experts to go further.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed two laws creating a framework for independent audits of artificial intelligence, and followed them with an executive order to speed up their implementation, StateScoop reported.
SB 813 creates independent verification organisations that can assess AI systems and models. AB 1405 sets up a state registry of AI auditors with standards for their independence, transparency and integrity.
Faster, and further
The order directs the Government Operations Agency to set application requirements and procedures for verification organisations by next May and to begin implementing related requirements by the end of 2027. It gives officials and outside experts until 16 November to recommend changes to the state's AI safety laws.
Options include requiring the largest frontier developers to undergo periodic on-site audits of their safety frameworks, transparency reports and risk assessments; requiring an emergency "kill switch" that can shut a model down, with independent testing that it works; and widening the definition of reportable critical safety incidents to cover AI systems losing control of their operations.
"We're not waiting to act," Newsom said. "We're going to do this thoughtfully but with urgent velocity; the stakes are too high to wait or delay action."
States filling the gap
California is not alone. In July Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed the Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act, which requires annual independent audits of major frontier developers. With no federal law in sight, the large states are building an audit profession by statute: rules for who may check AI systems, and on what terms. The White House's voluntary industry accord of 29 September points the same way, with outside auditors, but leaves companies to choose them.
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