Artificial Intelligence

California’s 2024 legislative session has been marked with exciting developments and a clear focus on setting the rules of the road for artificial intelligence (AI), with some measures becoming law and others stalling out along the way. Last month, Governor Newsom signed 17 bills regulating AI in the Golden State. Notably, Governor Newsom vetoed SB 1047, which would have imposed safety requirements on developers of large models to avoid certain harms. In vetoing the bill, Governor Newsom noted that it was not comprehensive or precise enough, improperly focused on large models even though small ones could present similar risks, and did not take into account whether an Al system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making, or uses sensitive data. Newsom’s veto also represents a big win for the numerous industry members, politicians, and academics who lobbied against the bill, arguing that its passage would stifle innovation in the space. Nevertheless, the AI bills Newsom did sign are expected to have wide-ranging impacts on the AI industry. A summary of those bills is below.Continue Reading Governor Newsom Signs (and Vetoes) Major California AI Legislation

On May 17, 2024, Governor Jared Polis signed the Colorado Artificial Intelligence Act (SB 24-205) (CAIA), regulating the development, deployment, and use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Colorado is the first state to enact comprehensive AI legislation. The law becomes effective February 1, 2026.Continue Reading Colorado Passes First-in-Nation Artificial Intelligence Act

On March 13, 2024, the European Parliament (EP) approved the latest draft of the European Union’s (EU) Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act). Following this vote, the text will be sent to the Council of the EU (Council) for formal approval, after which the AI Act will officially become law. Once the AI Act starts to apply, it will introduce a swathe of new obligations for companies providing and using AI systems and general-purpose AI (GPAI) models in the EU, subject to hefty fines of up to EUR 35 million or seven percent of the total worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher.Continue Reading The EU AI Act Passes Another Hurdle Towards Becoming Law

Generative AI (GenAI) has been at the top of the headlines lately, transforming fields as varied as journalism, marketing, and gaming, boosting productivity and profitability, and performing functions previously limited to humans. Recent projections suggest that the global GenAI market will increase to over $100 billion annually by 2030. A previous Wilson Sonsini alert on GenAI covered a wide range of issues, such as breach of contract, confidentiality, copyright, ethics, European Union laws and regulations, licensing, securities laws, trade secrets, and reputational considerations. Another previous alert addressed legal requirements for mitigating bias in AI systems more generally. This alert drills down on U.S. privacy and consumer protection considerations associated specifically with GenAI.Continue Reading Generative AI: Privacy and Consumer Protection Considerations