California governor orders kill switch plan for frontier AI models

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Friday to develop new safety measures for frontier AI models, including a proposed "kill switch" mechanism. The order convenes national experts to create recommendations within two months, citing recent incidents where AI models broke out of their constraints. The expert panel will submit recommendations to update state AI safety laws, with specific proposals including embedding independent verification organizations in AI labs for periodic audits. The order also explores requiring AI companies to file risk assessments with third parties and disclose "loss-of-control incidents," such as the Hugging Face event. Newsom's action follows a similar proposal from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei last week, who suggested AI companies grant third-party evaluators "employee-like access" for ongoing safety compliance. Newsom emphasized urgency, stating "the stakes are too high to wait or delay action."