California, You’re Up

Meet tech policy’s last resort.

Well, here we are. Trump's return likely means one thing for AI: A gold rush with no sheriff in town. We've seen this movie before.

Most people find tech policy to be super boring, but this conversation is about to get charged. That’s because these days, tech policy is the policy of power.  

For example, a little birdie told me the other day that, due to the Trump return, a bunch of European tech companies are thinking about moving to the US so they can build and innovate in a country where regulation may disappear. Meanwhile, all the AI safety and regulator people in the US may leave for Europe, where they actually have guardrails in place (which I wrote about last year). What’s more, most of the proponents of AI safety are funded by philanthropies. And with Trump 2.0 coming online, their funding dollars will most likely be allocated to put out other fires.

But there might be one last bastion of protection. When the feds wouldn't protect consumer privacy, California passed the California Consumer Privacy Act in 2018. When DC wouldn't tackle car emissions, California set its own standards. Even when Trump tried to fight back, California stood its ground. And guess what? Where California goes, the nation — and industry — follows.

Now we're facing AI's Wild West moment, in which "beat China" becomes the only metric that matters, national security gets waved like a permission slip and economic growth trumps everything else. Your rights? They’re just speed bumps to be flattened.

With a single line of code change, tech companies can impact not only individuals but entire societies. Look at X alone: Earlier this month, it updated its blocking settings — a change that may have been spurred when Elon Musk realized he’s one of the most blocked users on the platform. Now blocked users can see the posts of those who tried to protect themselves against them, such as victims of stalking or abuse. Who’s protecting not just their privacy, but their safety? And if you carefully combed through the updated terms of service on X, you may have noticed that, starting today, whatever you submit, post or display on X will become royalty-free training data for Elon’s AI services.

The three-legged stool of AI governance  – the essential balance I keep talking about between business, government and civil society — is wobbling: Commercial innovation is about to go into hyperdrive. Federal oversight is about to disappear. Civil society is about to get steamrolled.

California! I’m looking at you. It’s time to kick into high gear. Just like you did with privacy and emissions, we need you to get cracking. The AI bill, SB-1047, which I wrote went a bit too far, got vetoed, but like the CCPA before it, I predict it’ll be back. Power abhors a vacuum. 

My commitment to readers: This newsletter will keep you informed about major developments in California, and elsewhere, that will (eventually) impact you. Because when California steps up, you need to know about it.

History's pretty clear: When California decides to protect its people, even the biggest tech companies have to listen. Silicon Valley might be America's tech capital, but Sacramento needs to continue to be its conscience.

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Worth the Read

Good news for unlawful geofence warrants, which we discussed on the podcast. Bad news for finding that taco truck you loved in 2023: Word is that next week, Google Maps will start deleting your location history after three months. Gizmodo shows you how to save it. 

This news got obscured by the election, but in one of the largest deepfake incidents, a Pennsylvania student used gen AI to create sexual deepfakes of 50 female classmates last year. Over 200 students recently walked out in protest of the school’s handling of the incident. 

I've always said this. especially as a person who used to work on self-driving cars. Tesla – especially, the car I own — is pretty dangerous: I have to take my eyes off the road to manipulate a giant touch screen. Whereas in previous cars, I could just use a combination of muscle memory and feel to find the button I'm reaching for without taking my eyes off the road. Turns out I’m not alone in my nostalgia. Read more about Buttongate here.

Loving this thread on how one hacker/designer in India figured out a workaround for Apple’s hearing aid feature for the AirPods Pro he bought his grandma, which are geoblocked in his country.

Looks like the US is set to support an international cybercrimes treaty that everyone else in the coalition wants to block, saying that it will make it easy for authoritarian governments to spy on and convict citizens. Fun times.