Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order Friday directing actions to establish independent oversight of artificial intelligence systems and advance the creation of an emergency shutoff mechanism for AI models.
The order accelerates implementation of two laws passed this year—Senate Bill 813 and Assembly Bill 1405—which established a framework for certifying independent auditing organizations to assess AI systems for safety and risk. Newsom directed state officials to provide recommendations within two months on how to strengthen these safeguards.
Proposals under consideration include requiring independent third parties to develop safety plans for frontier AI companies and requiring companies to develop an emergency shutoff, or "kill switch," for frontier models. Newsom also directed state officials to update definitions of critical safety incidents to include loss-of-control incidents.
The executive order came after recent incidents, including an attack on Hugging Face, prompted industry leaders and others to call for stronger government regulations to address AI security and safety risks.
California has enacted multiple AI-related laws in recent years. In 2025, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 53, the Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act, which requires frontier AI developers to publicly disclose safety frameworks and report specified critical safety incidents to the state.