Where in History Does California’s AI Bill (SB 1047) Fit?

 

 

Only twice in my more than thirty years of studying technology policy have I witnessed the kind of broad resistance to a proposal that has been generated as much as California’s comprehensive AI regulatory bill, SB 1047. Seeing so many individuals and groups, many of whom disagree on many other issues, take such a strong, united stance against a significant measure pertaining to digital technology as SB 1047 is very amazing. It gains historical significance in this field as a result.

The last time I saw a comparable degree of broad-based “strange bedfellows” resistance to a significant digital technology policy initiative was probably during the SOPA/PIPA protests of 2011–2012, which preceded the legal battle over California’s SB 1047 AI bill.

I have never before seen such passionate and varied opposition to a digital technology endeavor.

Until then, the closest thing I could find to that kind of odd bedfellow resistance banded together against a broad digital technology proposal was the “Clipper Chip” campaign in the mid-1990s. Remarkably, California’s SB 1047 proposes a computational control regime that is remarkably similar to the “crypto war” ideas of the 1990s.

These three case studies show that, in most cases, under broad control regimes, it is not the greatest idea to initiate policy talks regarding technical control.

Approaches of governance that are more constrained and incremental make far more sense from a normative and pragmatic standpoint. Technology policy should be centered on specific, observable damages rather than speculative worst-case scenarios that demand sweeping, very restrictive regulatory preemptive restrictions.

If you are a political science professor or graduate student with a keen interest in the politics of digital technology regulation, an analysis of these three policy disputes would make a fantastic topic for an article or dissertation. Researching how such harsh measures are put into action, who is pushing them, how the opposition comes together to resist them, and how this affects the field’s subsequent policy talks are all fascinating subjects.

Since I was engaged in all three of these case studies, I wish I had the time to write it myself. However, to be quite honest, I am not the best person to write an objective history of these significant events, exactly because I stood firm against all three ideas. Still, I’m glad to be a source! Additionally, I could connect you with every rebel group spearheading the resistance movements in these conflicts.