Call-To-Action on SB 1047

California legislators, under the influence of Effective Altruism activists, are trying to sneak through a disastrous bill for open-source AI and the technology industry generally.

SB 1047 creates an unaccountable Frontier Model Division that will be staffed by EAs with police powers, and which can throw model developers in jail for the thoughtcrime of doing AI research. It’s being fast-tracked through the state Senate. Since many cloud and AI companies are headquartered in California, this will have worldwide impact.

We need your help to stop this now. It only takes a few minutes, and three steps, but you need to do them soon, ideally this week. Non-California residents are very welcome to comment, and indeed many of the supporters are not from California.

1. Submit a position letter to the bill author, which ensures that your position shows up on all future bill analysis that state Senators read. Go to https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1047, click on “Comments to the Author”, register an account and submit an opposition letter.

Use your own words for the letter, and feel free to borrow liberally from or cite from Context Fund’s analysis of the bill (https://www.context.fund/policy/sb_1047_analysis.html). One of key arguments being advanced is that this is “pro-little guy”, so if you’re involved in the open source movement, are a startup founder, or an investor, heavily cite your experience and how the bill affects you personally.

If it’s still before May 5th, also submit comments to the Senate Appropriations Committee: https://sapro.senate.ca.gov/position-letters. Unfortunately, you have to submit to both the committee and the author to make sure the position letter is fully considered at the hearing.

2. If you live in California, you’re critical to bringing this directly to the attention of your representatives.

If they don’t receive calls from their constituents, they will assume that this is uncontroversial. Based on recent public reactions, we estimate that this is unpopular in the CA tech industry by at least a 10:1 ratio, however, if this message does not get to Sacramento, it will not be perceived this way.

CALL or write to your legislators. A phone call is preferred, as they get a lot of mail each day. Call your House representative and your Senator.

https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/

Things to mention:

  1. You are a constituent of their district.
  2. Cite your experience and how the bill affects you. This is especially helpful if you’re involved in the open source movement, are a startup founder/employee/investor or work in the tech industry. One of the key arguments being advanced is that this is “pro-little guy”, so the more we can negate this point (based on facts), the better.
  3. There are over 11 entire categories of errors in this bill, and do not believe it can be amended to address all of them (see https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YNQupN5LEil96qVqkl9pLbcgdYY92iGveZO9Hu0MsMo/edit).
  4. Your recommendation is voting no on 1047.

Tactically, we are more likely to be able to block this in the House, but there’s a possibility of blocking in the Senate vote before May 24th as well, given how unpopular it is. Call now.

3. Add your public comment to the Context Fund analysis document (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rk8uRTs0tiQ8O4k6ZVkwnOQX5n2PSdFhh0sXeXoDNM4/edit).

4. Tell your friends about this and introduce it to the media, publications you are connected to, and your own social media followings, especially those serving the ML, tech and startup audiences.

Most builders and investors who would be affected by this bill are not aware of it, but the special interests are. We need to change that quickly.

Thank you for your help!