California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued an executive order on Friday positioning the state as a leader in AI oversight, including potential requirements for AI "kill switches" on frontier models. This action comes amid a vacuum in federal regulation, as Congress remains unlikely to pass meaningful AI legislation due to the House recess and impending elections.

The executive order directs a panel of experts to deliver recommendations within two months on strengthening AI safety measures, including requirements for independent verification groups conducting regular onsite audits, standardised transparency reports reviewed by independent auditors, functioning AI kill switches, and mandatory reporting of "loss-of-control incidents" such as the OpenAI breach at Hugging Face. Newsom is also accelerating implementation of two recently signed laws creating a framework for independent AI safety verifiers and establishing a state registry of AI auditors. He has positioned California's regulation as a potential model for federal action, suggesting Congress and the Trump administration should adopt or exceed the state's framework.