If you work in ML and don't normally get involved in politics, like many of us, calling your CA legislators now before the Senate vote on SB 1047 this week is the one exception to that rule. SB 1047 creates an unaccountable agency that can refer model developers for charges that

If you work in ML and don't normally get involved in politics, like many of us, calling your CA legislators now before the Senate vote on SB 1047 this week is the one exception to that rule. SB 1047 creates an unaccountable agency that can refer model developers for charges that lead to jailtime (yes, literally) and is coming up for a vote in the California Senate. It's highly unpopular in the AI community, at an estimated 10:1 ratio based on recent public comments. It will affect us directly. Want to try to train a SOTA model? Make sure you're in the good graces of 24 unaccountable regulators. Collectively, this restriction may also create restrictions on free speech and fragment CA institutions and the vibrant startup ecosystem. Expressing your voice matters. Many others you've heard of are already on the record, as well (context.fund/policy/sb_1047…) However, it's not clear that legislators are paying attention. The only way to prevent 1047 is to call your legislators and ask them to vote 'no'. There are a couple alternatives that we've outlined for later (context.fund/policy/alterna…), but likely none that fit into this legislative calendar. The FMD is a bad idea. I just called my reps - takes only a minute. Remember to call both your Senator and Assemblymember - while Senators will vote this week, the Assembly will have its own meetings if it passes the Senate. Call today: affuture.org/post/9-context/