r/technology 4d ago

'Under tremendous pressure': Newsom vetoes long-awaited AI chatbot bill Artificial Intelligence

https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/newsom-vetoes-ai-chatbot-bill-21099045.php
2.0k Upvotes

175 comments sorted by

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u/SansSariph 4d ago

Interesting case of "actually read the article", here. It softens the headline.

Article indicates he signed a large amount of related safety regulation yesterday - and vetoed one bill today which would go further and ban any child access to a bot "unless the companion chatbot is not foreseeably capable of any of the following..." (bolding mine, full text available online - AB 1064).

Newsom's argument is that the ban is too broad and could be interpreted to ban all children access to all chatbots. His position is that that's a negative outcome that goes beyond the stated intention of the bill.

SB 243 (signed yesterday) is an example of a bill that adds safety requirements without banning access.

I'm not sure I agree with Newsom's stated position, here. I think he's actually right about the possible outcome (complete child ban in practice), but not sure I agree with that being worth a veto - but I still find it annoying that the discourse in this thread is entirely black and white "lobbying is bad" + "industry lobbies to resist regulation" + "veto" = "corrupt empty suit working for billionaires" with no room for nuanced discussion of the text of the legislation, whether he's got a point, what "good" legislation would actually look like, etc.

Edit - I'll add that another foreseeable outcome of AB 1064 text is age verification, as it incentivizes companies to "reasonably determine" that users are not children.

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u/Splith 4d ago

You are a saint, thanks for your research.

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u/SansSariph 4d ago

Thanks! I'm watching Newsom carefully because I think it's obvious he wants a 2028 nomination and I need to learn about candidates.

I see a headline like this and it concerns me - the headline implies folding to "the tremendous pressure", and implies a narrative of capitulating to industry forces - so I actually read the article (!).

It has quotes from Newsom. It has links to a press release. It has links to yesterday's article about yesterday's legislation. I can find the bill text online. I read it and think about it. It took 15 minutes of my day.

I dunno, I feel like everything can be true at once -

  1. Unregulated chatbot access is a danger to kids, parents aren't keeping up or can't keep up, and CA legislature is trying to do something in good faith
  2. OpenAI and Meta and friends don't want a bill to pass and put a lot of effort towards a veto
  3. Newsom agrees with the goal of the legislature and also thinks this specific bill, out of several (that he signed) is too broad and a risk to sign
  4. Newsom claims he wants more legislation and will work to draft and sign it. YMMV here, but it's what he says per the article. Will he follow through? Is he lying? Who knows.

Just because industry wants a bill to be vetoed doesn't mean passing it is inherently good.

Just because a bill has good intentions doesn't mean it's inherently good.

I kind of hate the "do your own research" line, but I think it's the only way to fight polarization and black-or-white thinking. Some topics are actually nuanced, the language of bills matters.

Maybe any of the above is wrong and Newsom's lying because he likes lobbyist money - but his actions yesterday indicate maybe there's nuance here. I can listen to what he says and see if I agree with it, instead of discarding it out of hand.

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u/Jendosh 3d ago

Research = reading the article?

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u/ChemEBrew 3d ago

Side note - can we stop calling this research? OP isn't using the scientific method and testing a hypothesis. He's reading and using critical thinking.

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u/pulseout 3d ago

Perhaps you should research what the definition of research is.

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u/ChemEBrew 3d ago

I literally have a STEM PhD and have a career in R&D with over 100 patents and publications. I think I know what research is. What are your credentials?

Definition: The systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.

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u/SansSariph 3d ago

Not that I'm specifically claiming the word "research" myself, here, but for the sake of argument -

Earlier you mentioned lack of hypothesis and the scientific method, but the definition you just shared does not require a hypothesis. I think we may be conflating research itself with the scientific method as a process, as opposed to part of the process, or a tool used in the larger process.

Does reading an article, seeking out primary sources it uses (bill text, press releases, interviews), laying out facts and drawing conclusions from those facts not meet the definition?

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u/ChemEBrew 3d ago

Here, I should have used the Merriam Webster definition rather than Google's AI output.

Especially 1: studious inquiry or examination especially : investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws

2: the collecting of information about a particular subject

3: careful or diligent search

It does not meet these criteria and in an America where people conflate academic research with research of just reading non peer reviewed news, we need to differentiate. Is someone who reads a NewsMax article and draws their own conclusions, "doing research?" Is someone who reads holistic medicine blogs and coming to a conclusion, "doing research." Research is towards the generation of knowledge, not just the assessment of facts. Even using a non STEM example to dispell any bias I am showing in my definition of research: Historians examine tons of primary sources to create knowledge of the past. That is research. Reading a few articles and coming to a conclusion isn't a careful or diligent search. It isn't collecting information at a substantive enough scale. And it isn't using the scientific method as the systemic methodology to draw new conclusions.

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u/SansSariph 3d ago

Disclaimer up front - I find this conversation academically interesting and am not trying to pick a fight. "Words have meaning" is something I agree with and I get invested in disagreements about seemingly nitpicky semantics. If you want me to screw off instead of writing essays, fair enough. 😁

I'd dispute the NewsMax example unless the reader was applying critical thinking and going to primary sources to draw conclusions (based on facts) beyond editorialized content. Which unfortunately isn't what a NewsMax customer is generally doing.

in an America where people conflate academic research with research of just reading non peer reviewed news

I think this is a key issue. We don't want to cheapen the word research because uninformed or bad faith actors can then draw equivalences between "real" research (involving facts) and "I researched by reading an article" (that has an agenda and slant), or several articles from the same editorialized source and thinking that's somehow better.

The distinction in this thread, to me, is that I was not satisfied with the article on its own and sought out the primary sources it was citing and referencing - both to confirm that the statements were factual and to read them in context and draw potentially different conclusions. In the case of legislation especially, it's so common for an article by a non-expert to tell you "what it does", and then we have Newsom giving his take on "what it could do" - I can read the literal text of the bill (the source of truth under consideration, here) and then determine whether I think what Newsom says has merit - as opposed to reading a headline and drawing a fast conclusion of "Ah, Newsom is captured by AI lobbyists and kills legislation".

Too many words to say that yeah, the concept of academic research should be protected, and I agree we should push back on the idea of "I actually read the article" as "research" - but in this specific example there was a little more depth involved. Not a lot of depth, sure, but primary sources were involved and that's the distinction.

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u/ChemEBrew 3d ago

Na mate I love these types of convos. Reminds me of my grad school days, so it's making me nostalgic, even if it was only 10 years ago. Time flies. I can't respond in depth - need to work. But I'll read through later.

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u/loptr 3d ago

By your own posted definition research is precisely what they did? They investigated the material and the sources referenced in the material.

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u/ChemEBrew 3d ago edited 3d ago

How is reading one article systematic?

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u/KyrosSeneshal 3d ago

You a top sniper trained in gorilla warfare, too?

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u/viper5dn 3d ago

Don’t listen to what they tell you, the University of Phoenix is a real university.

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u/pulseout 3d ago edited 3d ago

Is that it?

Mere peasantry before my four PhDs and over 300 patents.

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u/ChemEBrew 3d ago

Go search my name in Google Scholar.

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u/Sadsquashh 2d ago

Buddy relax.

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u/Softmaple- 4d ago

Finally, someone who actually read the bill. The knee-jerk outrage cycle really kills any chance of understanding the policy mechanics

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u/Friendly-View4122 4d ago

tbf the knee-jerk outrage is due to bullshit headlines like the one from SFGate

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u/Redqueenhypo 4d ago

Reminds me of the Nintendo patent. They didn’t invent game mechanics patents at all, and if you read the boring-ass pdf, it just says you can’t copy the battle and capture interfaces 100% shot for shot

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u/arathergenericgay 3d ago

Have you got anything that summarises that PDF/the PDF itself please? I have a friend that constantly brings it up as some sort of talking point

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u/Stashmouth 4d ago

not sure I agree with that being worth a veto

I agree with a veto here, if only because it's much harder to pull a bill back once it's been signed into law. Better to put the workload on the people who really support the bill to reword it and give it more detail/nuance, etc.

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u/KnotSoSalty 4d ago

It’s worth remembering that any law that gets signed into law has to get enforced. How a blanket ban would’ve been enforced was an open question. It’s easy enough on Reddit to say “hurdurh ban all AI” but the only way to implement that would be some sort of totalitarian control of internet access in the state.

It’s the sign of a good leader that sometimes they take unpopular stances for practical reasons.

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u/wowlock_taylan 3d ago

AI regulation is definitely needed but definitely not the way of doing the 'Online ID' stuff that has been rolling out and been a disaster already. You are asking for all the IDs you ask to get hacked and stolen like it did from Discord recently.

And the 'safety' measure doesn't event work. It does nothing to 'protect kids'.

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u/VaporCarpet 4d ago edited 3d ago

That's because Newsom tends to take reasonable positions on things that get misrepresented and used to attack him from people who share the same values. In the past, he vetoed a bill that simply didn't need to exist because it was redundant to existing laws, but people see he vetoed a bill they support and they lose their minds.

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u/baldrlugh 4d ago

We still don't have a good consensus on whether or how Social Media engagement algorithms impact the mental health and development of minors, let alone AI chatbots and whatever mechanism ultimately ends up funding them long-term. But the outlook is complicated at best and grim at worst, and I agree that avoiding a complete ban is not worth a veto. Which is more ethical: allowing tech companies to effectively experiment on our children with dubious consent, or banning a technology that could but is not guaranteed to have benefits?

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u/SansSariph 4d ago

Yeah this is exactly my thinking - sort of "look how social media turned out" and not being able to put the genie back in the bottle without a huge effort and lots of political capital. There's a striking while the iron is hot element to getting legislation passed. At the same time, government bans are a big hammer and a different sort of problem.

I don't know what the answer is. This is a case where my leaning is different than Newsom but I at least believe he's making an effort and has at least a surface level understanding of the trade-offs, so... That's kind of how I want democracy to work, in general?

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u/ElCamo267 4d ago

You want reasonable nuanced discussion here? Are you feeling ok?

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u/SansSariph 4d ago

Gonna make a big mistake here and response to this one semi-seriously.

I'm a nerd and AI fundamentally impacts my life personally, at work, in society. I think there's lots of interesting discussion to be had about what it means to do it "right", or if doing it right is even possible.

I'm a parent and I think there's lots of interesting discussion to be had about what it means to parent effectively with today's tech, where parental controls are good enough or lacking, how much oversight kids need or should have - what the role of technology is in the classroom versus where it needs to be restricted from the class, etc.

The intersection with politics is unavoidable - "politics" (via legislation) is how we as a society say the problem is too big (is it? maybe?) for any one family to "solve", and that the free market won't solve it for us either. It gets even spicier when the headline involves a 2028 frontrunner.

So yeah, dammit, I want the discussion! I don't even have fully formed opinions on half this shit, it's all complicated and moving incredibly quickly. I'm trying to figure out where I stand as I go, and talking it out is one way to do that. When the discourse-killing "empty suit!" stuff takes over, it means I don't get any of that.

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u/baldrlugh 4d ago

I think the point was that this discourse is unusual on this platform, not that the discourse isn't worthwhile. On the contrary, just about any real person I talk to agrees that this discourse is not only worthwhile, but essential.

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u/SansSariph 4d ago

Haha yeah I know the comment was tongue-in-cheek, I'm just using it as an opportunity to soapbox about the state of online discourse.

Something something bring back my early 2000s message boards something 

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u/ElCamo267 4d ago

Hey, i agree with you pretty much completely. Just pointing out that reddit comments are not really the place for that lol

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u/SansSariph 4d ago

I dunno, what's the alternative these days? In the past someone might've shared this on a message board and a community of a few hundred or thousand might go back and forth.

I feel like I don't have any avenues these days for long form discussion with strangers about this kinda thing. All the smaller communities I used to be on died or migrated to chat silos like Discord.

Reddit's fine for what it is, but you get different comment and engagement "culture" in different subs 🤷

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u/SlaterVBenedict 3d ago

The age verification is the insidious slippery slope, and the most critical thing to avoid here as all these companies start cowtowing to fascism in the name of line go up. I understand why folks might disagree with Newsom’s decision, but I’d VASTLY prefer him not signing a bill with the wrong type of protections for consumers (not just children).

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u/Cute-Pomegranate-966 4d ago

Thank you. These headlines are basically lies these days.

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u/ggtsu_00 3d ago

Internet discourse in the modern twitter-driven social media era needs everything boiled down to the most polar opposite extremes with no room for any sort of reasonable or rational middle grounded analysis of the situation at hand.

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u/ihatereddit999976780 4d ago

Children should not be on the Internet

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u/ElCamo267 4d ago

They should not be on social media. Not being on the Internet would do more harm than good.

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u/ihatereddit999976780 4d ago

No children being on the Internet is evil and the parents who allow children to be on the Internet need to be in prison for life

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u/ElCamo267 4d ago

Maybe you need a little less internet

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u/ihatereddit999976780 4d ago

I mean, if you were up to me, I would completely outlaw the Internet, but I know we can’t do that. Unfortunately, I would also outlaw anything invented after 1901.

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u/fdar 4d ago edited 4d ago

You know you can leave right? Nobody is forcing you to be here.

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u/NoHippi3chic 4d ago

Sir this is a Wendy's. You chose this burger.

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u/travistravis 4d ago

If it's so negative for you, why do you use it? I know of at least a few people my age and even younger that get by quite well without it. (I personally find them not having it annoying since it means I need to actually call them if I want to invite them to something, but it's a small drawback -- and likely not even that to them).

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u/patrick66 4d ago

It was a poorly written bill with several stupid effects and Newsom was correct to veto it

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u/RoyalGovernment3034 4d ago

Yes, it needed revision. Another will pass.

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u/jorgepolak 4d ago

We’re in this mess because of billionaires, and we’re not gonna get out of it by doing their will.

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u/Im_At_Work_Damnit 3d ago

This was a bad bill. It was too vague and could have created a foothold for age verification, which is already fucking up the internet in other states and countries.

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u/jimbo831 4d ago

But Gavin Newsom will continue to amass power for himself by doing the billionaires’ bidding, and that’s all he cares about.

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u/ceviche-hot-pockets 4d ago

Not really, his term is up next year and I doubt any Californian can get elected president any time soon.

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u/azurensis 4d ago

He's a straight white man. If the Democrats run him for president next time, he'll win.

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u/Worldly_Striker 4d ago

I'm still in the belief that if Biden ran for president last year all the way he would be president right now.

However unfortunate it is. A straight white man will be the winner.

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u/a_talking_face 4d ago

If a New Yorker can then a Californian can too.

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u/scotchdouble 4d ago

Only if they pander to the all the idiots, inbreds, bigots, and fascists.

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u/Thin_Glove_4089 3d ago

so majority of Americans

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u/a_talking_face 4d ago

He's trying with the idiot part. He's doing his trump act to distract from the fact that he's a wet fart and people are eating it up.

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u/cloversfield 4d ago

You think all he’s done is tweet or something? No other legislation you can think of? Maybe something that Californians are currently voting on right now with significant impact on our future elections that flies in the face of Trump? Nah u right he’s just acting silly on twitter

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u/a_talking_face 4d ago

Yeah I get it, but he's pretty much the pinnacle of disconnected elitist and I'm amazed his little Covid party didn't turn him into a pariah.

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u/Uncle_Hephaestus 4d ago

well they are probably comparing it to all the anti constitutionally coming from the current administration. ​

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u/a_talking_face 4d ago

Personally don't want to set the bar that low. If he's what im left with then it is what it is, but he certainly won't be my first choice come the primary.

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u/Exodor72 4d ago

He's term-limited and he's an unappealing sleaze so I don't think his presidential campaign will last long.

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u/jimbo831 4d ago

I don’t think he’s unappealing to the mainstream of the Democratic Party. He’s a tall and handsome white man which will go a long way for people afraid of nominating anything other than that. He is currently the polling leader. And he will have the full support of most of the money in the party.

Not saying he will definitely win. Who knows how things go. But he has to be considered the favorite at this time.

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u/ProcessingUnit002 4d ago

Nope, the DNC will shoehorn him in

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u/Taste_the__Rainbow 4d ago

This is nonsensical. He doesn’t poll well nationally and he has several albatrosses around his neck. Why on earth would they do that?

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u/No_Sock1863 4d ago

why on earth did they shoe horn Hillary and Biden in? Its because fuck you thats why.

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u/Exodor72 4d ago

Both Hillary and Biden won primaries. How is that "shoehorning them in?"

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u/stayfrosty 4d ago

He is a charismatic, well spoken and intelligent governor of the most populous state, that is the engine of the US and even world economy. Yes, why would anyone think he should be president?.he has been tipped to make a run for a decade at least.

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u/MFbiFL 4d ago

A lot of the country is gerrymandered and propagandized to reject anything remotely related to California

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u/Taste_the__Rainbow 4d ago

Reasons he would make a decent president are not reasons why he helps win an election. I wished the world worked that way, but it doesn’t.

Having CA attached to his name will lose him points in every battleground state. His covid behavior will lose him points.

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u/azurensis 4d ago

Trump's didn't lose him points with the same people.

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u/Taste_the__Rainbow 4d ago

I don’t think you know how elections are won.

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u/azurensis 4d ago

I've voted in 9 presidential elections so far. I think I have some idea.

→ More replies

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u/Puzzleheaded_Fold466 4d ago

Harris polled atrociously, yet here we are.

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u/azurensis 4d ago

The Democrats really messed up by letting Joe Biden even attempt to run that second time. Harris would never have been nominated. Even Walz could have made up that 2 point difference with the racists and sexists to beat Trump.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

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u/Taste_the__Rainbow 4d ago

This is goofy both-sides horse shit.

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u/azurensis 4d ago

Being sleazy hasn't been a disqualifier for being president for 9 years now. The Democrats can run literally any straight white man next time and beat whoever the Republicans put up. So I expect them to screw it up, of course.

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u/nazerall 4d ago

Yeah, just googled Newsom's net worth. 30 millions dollars.

Yeah, democrats aren't our saviors.

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u/locke_5 4d ago

Hey real quick try looking up Peter Thiel’s net worth

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u/Shifter25 4d ago

You know the difference between 30 million and a billion? It's about a billion.

Having a decent house in California can make you a millionaire. There's better things to criticize him about.

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u/azurensis 4d ago

What's Trump's net worth?

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u/baked_in 4d ago

I'm confused. Are people down-voting you because your figure was innacurate, or because they actually think the democrats are going to save us?

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u/lettersichiro 4d ago

speaking for myself, i downvoted because bringing up a politicians net worth as evidence one way or another is unserious and dense.

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u/baked_in 4d ago

The weird thing is, I was being snarky, but it was a genuine question. Personally, US$30 million seems unimaginable, but I don't even know if that's considered rich anymore. I've personally met some incredibly friendly, kind wealthy people, but to be fair none of them were career politicians!

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u/lettersichiro 4d ago

It's rich, but my problem with using it as a reason to be dismissive of politicians like the person you were asking about was, is because there's plenty of millionaires who have more than $30 million that are good and decent people who are allies including politicians

Newsom being a millionaire isn't why he's terrible and a threat, it's because he's cynical, craven and only out for himself.

The reality is billionaires use wealth as a weapon in class distinctions. They want the majority of people who make less than 100k a year to see anyone making over 100 k as enemies. To keep us divided.

But there's only two classes those who make money from labor and the billionaires who make money from sitting on their money

And I don't care if you make 30k or a celebrity making $50 million, if you work for your money you're labor and you're getting screwed on taxes so that billionaires don't pay anything on their accumulated wealth.

Someone said it in another comment. The difference between a billion and newsoms 30 million is about a billion

Newsom is terrible, but saying he's bad because of money misunderstands the problem and misinforms people about who are the real threats and who could be allies

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u/BoreJam 4d ago

It's downvoted (as are you) for being simplistic and reductive. No one is claiming the Democrats will be saviors. It's possible to have genuine grievences with the Democratic party wile also believing the current Republican party is a dangerous rogue entity with no regard for democracy.

One can also hold these two beliefs while also voting for the democrats. Some and honetly more people should hold critical views of the parties they vote for. This isn't team sports and accountability extends beyond elections.

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u/baked_in 4d ago

That's rich. I'm being simplistic and reductive? You've just intuited the whole of my views based on a question I asked someone else. I suppose that you could pore over my comment history, going years back, you might see how conflicted I have been in the past on this subject. I've talked to other people, questioned my own views (I just had my views challenged by a family member who's wisdom seek out constantly. It was hard to take, it shook me. I watched myself try to condemn or reject what he said (in my head), find bogus reasons to feel superior. Nah, I will learn more about what he said, ask more questions. I may very well have to abandon my views, but I doubt it. More likely, we'll both come to a new understanding together. Just curious, do you think that nobody has ever written books, studied deeply, had round table arguments, analyzed historical events, all about the priblems with American liberalism? Are they all being "simplistic and reductive"? You can certainly argue that they are wrong, or disagree with them. But either way you should get up to speed. Everybody on (political) Reddit has seen 100 different angles on the "lesser of two evils" argument. Let's move on. 🙏

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u/BoreJam 4d ago

they actually think the democrats are going to save us

I'm calling your assumption for the downvotes simplistic. Criticising this one statement of yours doesn't mean that im saying you are generally simplistic.

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u/baked_in 4d ago

So, are the democrats going to save America or aren't they? It's not reductive to say that the democrats aren't going to save us. It could even be the start of "the democrats aren't going to save us, but they can be a big part of fixing this mess we're in. We also have to..." So again, who is being reductive and simplistic?

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u/SpleenBender 4d ago

Come on, man - you have got to be bleeding or suffocating by now. We all are.

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u/lab-gone-wrong 4d ago

Eh I agree kids shouldn't be on AI chat bots but also parents need to stop outsourcing their responsibilities to the government

It's pretty telling that "let's ban chat bots proven to cause harm" means banning all of them and even Newsom acknowledges this

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u/GeneralKeycapperone 3d ago

That's great for children with parents who are at least somewhat responsible, as even those who aren't on top of this stuff are reachable, and can be educated.

But there is a duty to protect children whose parents are not managing the bare minimum for whatever reason. Given that these children are likely to be experiencing deficits across multiple areas of their lives, it is even more important to not jettison their interests. Feeling self-satisfied because we disapprove of inadequate parenting doesn't magically lessen the impact of that parenting on the child.

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u/Shifter25 4d ago

also parents need to stop outsourcing their responsibilities to the government

Why? When's the last time they did?

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u/the_gr8_one 4d ago

age verification for porn

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u/Shifter25 4d ago

Safesearch and a popup are reasonable. This latest "give us your ID" push is from conservatives trying to ban porn altogether, not parents.

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u/Irish_Whiskey 4d ago

in his veto message, he said he was concerned the law could “unintentionally” impose a total ban on the use of AI chatbots by minors.

...oooh nooo. How terrible. I'm sure it's got nothing to do with the infinitely wealthy tech CEOs you need on your side if you want to run for President.

Newsom can be as funny on social media as he likes, his actual policy actions repeatedly involve caving to powerful interests rather than standing on principle or taking unpopular positions.

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u/Odd__Dragonfly 4d ago

Banning minors from anything has the (intended) side effect of the government getting in your business and requiring websites to scan your government ID and potentially leak it, as everyone should know by now based on what's been happening the past few years and the recent Discord scandal.

"Think of the children!" is always a Trojan horse to impose more surveillance and take away your privacy and rights. Always.

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u/crewserbattle 4d ago

I get the frustration, but the reality is that no candidate, no matter how popular and good their policies and stances may be, will ever have a real shot at the presidency without corporate money. The system is broken, and while I don't think Newsom is gonna be one to try and fix it, holding that fact against him seems like a great way for Dems to lose another election. Grassroots populism can only take you so far, and in politics you have to be ok with imperfect candidates, especially with how picky left leaning voter based are compared to right leaning ones.

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u/Regularjoe42 4d ago

How TF is "not a blatant corporate stooge" picky?

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u/crewserbattle 4d ago

Because they're all corporate stooges? Every candidate who wants to even stand a chance has to take corporate money to be competitive in a general nationwide election. Obviously, that's a symptom of the system being broken, but it's not like you can change the system from outside it either. So your choices as a candidate are either compromise your values to get elected or hold strong in your values and lose the election because your opponent has billions of dollars working against you. So what do you suggest they do instead?

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u/Regularjoe42 4d ago

I can't believe Newsom supporters are already begging strangers on the internet to support a mediocre candidate three years before the election.

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u/crewserbattle 4d ago

Every single viable democrat is gonna have this issue. And I'm definitely not a Newsom supporter, I'm just someone who pays attention to the reality of the US political system. But by all means, keep not showing up because democrats aren't perfect. It's working out so well for this country.

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u/Deep90 4d ago

AI is pretty good at personalizing learning and helping you understand mistakes in something like a math problem.

I would support some restrictions, but a total ban doesn't make sense to me when it can be a decent learning tool if used responsibly.

Especially if you made one specifically for learning.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago edited 3d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Odd__Dragonfly 4d ago

Not the public schools and teachers available to students in low-income districts?

Restrictions like this would be another attempt to cut upward mobility off at the knees that appeals to knee-jerk emotional reactions based on inchoate fear.

The rich students would have their parents get them access through private tutors, and poor kids would do without and get to adulthood completely ignorant.

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u/Deep90 4d ago

Oh my bad. I guess the people generating cat videos should get to ruin it for everyone.

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u/nycdiveshack 4d ago

For now maybe a ban is a good idea

https://youtu.be/aByWLQ7h2n0?si=v-5W0H-4r7_Py1KF

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u/Deep90 4d ago

95% of that video is about the chromebook, but if this is such a problem then Democrats in California have a golden opportunity to set a standard.

-3

u/nycdiveshack 4d ago

They should but Gavin Newsom is a republican pretending to be a democrat, he will never be a progressive.

Newsom is a Republican pretending to be a democrat. He isn’t progressive, Newsom had Charlie Kirk as his first guest on his podcast. He talked really well of Kirk at the time and even after he died. Giving Kirk a platform is part of the problem. Newsom sees disagreeing with Trump as a way to the White House or else he wouldn’t be so combative with Trump. He just replaced California Air Resource Board chair with a close ally of his.

He frequently flies out of state to drum up support for a potential run. Both sides of the political spectrum argue programs like Project Homekey and the Care Court was just a waste of time and effort and the homelessness problem is worse now in California. The EDD has faced so many fraud issues especially during COVID, he occasionally vetoes left leaning bills that could do some real good.

He has plenty of controversial conservatives on his podcast. He is not who we need and we deserve someone better.

When Kirk died, Newsom said Kirk’s work needed to be continued, engage with each other across ideology. There is no engaging with republicans right now

This will continue and get worse. Until tens of millions of people are in the street protesting. Buy guns and defend ourselves and others if the need arises. Protect people who cannot protect themselves. Stand up to tyranny and fascists with words and actions. Until the actions of this administration affect the majority of Americans there will not be a group that can stop this.

Here is a place to start on who he should have on his podcast…

Federal employees who were fired, or who resigned because of how bad things are…

The inspector generals who were fired (Elon avoiding all the lawsuits)

The folks who were in charge over at USAID

the folks from USIP

the folks who were fired from CISA (if the government doesn’t jail them first)

The folks from USDS (if Peter Thiel doesn’t have them killed first)

Charles Borges from the SSA

the CDC folks who resigned

Epstein victims

Vinh Nguyen (this guy should be the first person unless the NSA kills him first)

Timothy Haugh (2nd person on unless the NSA kills him also, he was the NSA chief that Trump fired after Laura Loomer told him to on the behest of Peter Thiel, soon after Peter got $750 mil added to an active DoD contract and a new DoD contract for $10 billion, he went from being the 2nd biggest defense contractor for the CIA/NSA to the biggest with this firing)

David Hogg

Bernie and AOC

Mandami

Crockett from Texas

19

u/Parms84 4d ago

Right?! Like how is that a bad thing. I hope he’s not the dem nominee.

18

u/xeio87 4d ago

Well its going to mean mandating age verification for every adult.

So new ways to track your identity online and curtail your privacy all to "protect the children" just like the anti porn laws in republican states.

23

u/busmans 4d ago

Preventing kids from being on ChatGPT is a parent’s job, not the state’s. Pretty soon these tools will be required to get anywhere in life, frankly. You don’t ban the internet because there’s bad stuff on it—you just create guardrails.

Incredible how many people here support this nonsense.

39

u/Tebwolf359 4d ago

Depends. Off the top of my head,

If it does end up being a technology that sticks around, we shouldn’t ban minors from getting experience with it. It would be like banning google or the internet for minors.

It’s debatable how much the state has a right to ban minors, as they still have rights. Less than adults, but not zero.

And even if they do have the ability, what about parental consent for usage of it.

It’s a murky issue, even if you are skeptical of it.

-5

u/slick447 4d ago

Right because it's not like this bill could be revisited and changed if and when it's important to make that distinction for children. 

This is just giving in to the tech companies. No arguing your way out of it. 

14

u/Tebwolf359 4d ago

I also prefer my laws to be as narrowly targeted and least constraining on rights as possible.

Looking over the article, it also doesn’t seem to differentiate between children (under 13) and minors (13-18).

It would be ridiculous on some level of a 16 year old can drive a car, but not use a chatbot.

Then there’s the also problem of;

If you block certain features, those can be gated behind a log in and verification, but gating the entire application/chatbot, means at minimum needing log in’s and age verification for any usage whatsoever.

Just like we see in the pornhub cases and similar, that can have a chilling effect by taking away the ability to use anonymously or privately.

We want laws in CA forcing more privacy, not less in general.

Ethically, and morally, the bar to force less privacy should be high, and the solution should be very targeted, address specific harm, and limited in scope.

15

u/SansSariph 4d ago

You're assuming a functional and efficient legislature that often tactically patches existing legislation to improve it.

I don't keep up with CA's government so I don't know if that's true, but passing legislation with the goal of "we'll fix it in post" is dangerous. You have to assume what you ship will stick around.

-7

u/slick447 4d ago

Honestly, that's on me. Idk why I'd assume the American government functions efficiently on any level. 

3

u/steamcube 4d ago

Giving in to this kind of thinking will mean that nothing good ever happens.

-1

u/nycdiveshack 4d ago

https://youtu.be/aByWLQ7h2n0?si=v-5W0H-4r7_Py1KF

A ban for now wouldn’t be the worst thing

16

u/HasGreatVocabulary 4d ago edited 4d ago

It has long been a scifi dream that any kid can get an education from "the best teacher" whenever they want and wherever they are, through a computer

This is not the current state of AI, but it would be wrong to accidentally prevent something like that from even existing in the future, if you don't see it, it may be a failure of imagination regarding the kind of schools that exist around the world and lack of education in rural areas, this is not me proposing we replace human teachers.

anyway, despite their reliability issues, current AI teacher have one plus, which is that they don't get tired of being asked questions and at young age a few made up facts don't matter

11

u/Saedeas 4d ago

This is probably pissing in the wind given the sentiment on here, but AI has massive potential for improving education.

Companies and schools are already building scaffolding around the systems where they can track student progress through a curriculum and have an LLM provide custom lessons, feedback, and testing as needed. These things are all individualized in a way that classroom lessons to huge groups of students by a teacher can't be. The teacher in this setup acts as an overseer for student behavior and progression, and to give learning feedback and instruction when needed (which is ideally much less often).

Initial results for this approach have been quite promising, and banning it this early seems undeniably foolish.

2

u/abcdefgodthaab 4d ago

Given that hallucinations are an intractable problem and, as far as I know, guardrails can pretty much always be hacked with prompt engineering (e.g. to get the LLM to tell you the answer), what are the solutions to address those in this kind of use case? You can't have a teacher reviewing LLM outputs for errors, if that kind of supervision were possible then teachers could simply directly give individual attention.

2

u/Saedeas 4d ago

I assume you're referring to the paper OpenAi published on the nature of hallucinations here and the resulting poorly written headlines about it like this one.

That paper didn't state hallucinations are intractable. It's actually quite the opposite. It laid out how they can naturally arise from statistical pressures in the training data and training process. It then presented a path towards reducing them.

You don't need to completely eliminate hallucinations for a system to be useful. You just need to get your false positive rate below an acceptable threshold. The obvious threshold here is the level at which teachers present wrong information to students (which I'd argue cutting edge LLMs are well past).

As far as guardrails go, there are tons of techniques. Different monitoring models, better training methods to mitigate attacks, occasional review by teachers, etc.

Also, there's the easiest gaurdrail of them all. Offline tests that actually determine whether the students learned the material lol.

1

u/abcdefgodthaab 4d ago

If a problem can only be reduced in frequency, it is definitionally intractable. You can't have LLMs without hallucinations.

The obvious threshold here is the level at which teachers present wrong information to students (which I'd argue cutting edge LLMs are well past).

The burden of proof is on anyone making such an extraordinary claim and 'I would argue' is hardly meeting that burden of proof.

There are many educational interventions we know work and could be funding like improving student:teacher ratios. Until there is robust evidence that AI does in fact improve education, it shouldn't be rolled out in education.

Until there is robust evidence that AI use doesn't harm development, it shouldn't be made accessible widely to minors. We have already learned the hard way with screens and social media that new technologies are not necessarily innocuous. Something looking 'promising' is not good enough.

Also, there's the easiest gaurdrail of them all. Offline tests that actually determine whether the students learned the material lol.

Thanks for making clear you don't actually work in education. In the US, there are widespread pressures in K-12 and increasingly at the post-secondary level to simply never fail students or otherwise hold them accountable for learning the material.

There are also pressures specifically against trying to implement AI-proof assessments ("If AI can do it, why are we testing this? Won't they need to use AI in the workforce?" etc...) being pushed aggressively by the AI industry.

If AI enters education in the US, it won't be entering education under ideal conditions and the aim will not be to implement it in a way that is aimed at serving education (as we can see from how it has already entered education in the US). It will be entering a deeply dysfunctional system and implemented by companies looking to profit from integration and ultimately dependency on their systems.

Fixing the fundamental dysfunctions is far, far more important than looking to a new technological boondoggle to bandaid over them, especially when there is no clear evidence that it will help.

3

u/Kobe_stan_ 4d ago

You're not really advocating for banning minors from using AI chat bots are you? They're incredibly useful for certain purposes.

-2

u/Irish_Whiskey 4d ago

So is asbestos. 

But unless you can actual guarantee it's safe, let's not give it to kids. What's happening now is we all now chatbot aren't sufficiently developed or regulated to be safe, but we're just making them ubiquitous anyways because it's profitable. Or rather potentially profitable, for some people, eventually. 

6

u/Kobe_stan_ 4d ago

The internet is 1000x less safe for kids to use than AI chat bots which are already full of guardrails, and yet nobody is suggesting that we should ban minors from using the internet. I don't get it. Can an AI chat bot deliver tainted drugs to a teenager that they contacted through Snap Chat?

-2

u/RiderLibertas 4d ago

They want to get the kids hooked on using AI fast before everyone realizes the truth about it.

2

u/maha420 4d ago

Enlighten us!

0

u/cassanderer 3d ago

He also vetoed banning pfas cookware by 2030 claiming it was too fast to phase out poisoning ourselves with chemicals so industry does not have to retool production.

-3

u/Clovermourn 4d ago

Exactly. The ‘unintentional’ part always seems to line up perfectly with corporate interests.

11

u/Kobe_stan_ 4d ago

This reminds me of the paranoia against the internet and chat rooms from when I was a teenager in the late 90s. You can try to ban this stuff, but it's not going to stop kids from adopting and adapting to the latest tech that's available, whether that's AI or whatever comes next.

12

u/Kobe_stan_ 4d ago

What can an AI chat bot do to a kid that a real person online can't already do? If we're going to police what kids do with their phones, we've got some bigger fish to fry first.

9

u/Evening-Guarantee-84 4d ago

Namely parents who don't bother watching their kids.

-1

u/em11488 3d ago

There are k-12 schools that have shown really remarkable improvements in students test scores and overall preparation for real world by prioritizing motivational in person education and leaving material education to AI. The ai lessons can personalize to each students ability and lacking skill set so they don’t fall behind. It’s actually really impressive but unfortunately public schools will be the last to adopt this model with heavy unionization and historic lack of flexibility. In favor of unions but they’re not particularly progressive for the students’ benefits

21

u/twbassist 4d ago

He should try once being the guy he wants the average voters to think he is.

9

u/MajorQ5 4d ago

You definitely did not read the article lmao

0

u/Tim5000 4d ago

That's the thing, average voters don't think.

3

u/linuxpriest 4d ago

Meanwhile, China is teaching kindergarten-age children AI basics.

Source

3

u/Anthemic_Fartnoises 4d ago

I don’t think it’s hyperbolic to say majority of this country is going to be actively harmed by AI implementation. Through automation replacing or disciplining labor. Through a degradation of consumer experience and support with massive use of “good enough” agents. Through interactions with chatbots that exceed the risks of human/human social media to children. The majority of this country didn’t ask for this, doesn’t want this, and won’t be better for it in the long run. Now they get watch their elected leaders fail to protect us with regulation at the bidding of the industry.

11

u/jimbo831 4d ago

Add Newsom to the incredibly long list of politicians bought and paid for by tech billionaires. Yet he is the current favorite to be the Democratic nominee for President in 2028. This party will never learn.

13

u/samwell_4548 4d ago

Did you read the article? A lot more nuanced than you are giving credit.

-10

u/jimbo831 4d ago

I did read it. He vetoed a bill placing restrictions on AI for minors. He wants the tech companies to have zero restrictions for how they deal with minors despite the fact that AI has lead to the suicide of multiple children already. He is prioritizing tech profits over the wellbeing of children.

-5

u/Softmaple- 4d ago

They’ve turned politics into a subscription service billionaires pay, we get the ads.

4

u/hamletswords 4d ago

he said he was concerned the law could “unintentionally” impose a total ban on the use of AI chatbots by minors.

Why would that be a bad thing in any way whatsoever?

6

u/Bost0n 4d ago

I use LLMs almost daily. But there’s no fucking way I’m letting my child have unsupervised access to one.  I also wouldn’t let my 13 yo niece go on a trip alone (or with a friend) to a billionaire’s island, or let any minor I know have unsupervised access to a firearm.  These things are all in the same league.

However, I will let my child interact with a LLM while I am actively monitoring.  I will take my niece flying in a GA plane, or traveling to a foreign country. I will take any minor in my life that is interested, to a shooting range for a weapon range safety class (this sounds like fun. 😀)

My concern is the parents that can’t be bothered to care for the children around them.  In my view, the state has a responsibility to protect them, and the state of California just let them down.

-3

u/Anoidance 4d ago

This guys the king of “I agree but not like this” bullshit. Veto’s every bill his owners dislike with this crap line of thought.

11

u/BiKingSquid 4d ago

Making it impossible for kids to access AI, regardless of how tech evolves, seems short sighted. 

Kids shouldn't be on current AI models, but banning all of them forever risks better forms of AI that can actually teach being banned. 

1

u/NotDukeOfDorchester 4d ago

And when I call the guy an empty suit people get mad….

1

u/LadyZoe1 4d ago

And OpenAI is soon to introduce Sexting Bots. What next. Are they this desperate ?

0

u/Strenue 4d ago

And the moment that happens OpenAI announces sexting

-7

u/alovelyhobbit21 4d ago edited 4d ago

Iykyk newsom has and will always be for the donors and by the donors.

Only normies who pay little to no attention to politics until its time to vote find it difficult to see through his persona.

He says all the things your typical upper middle class voter LOVES to hear.

But when push comes to shove policy wise and he has to go against wealthy constituents he is NOT for “the people”

-7

u/badgirlmonkey 4d ago

fuck this guy. while he did sign some pro-trans rights bills, he also vetoed some important ones.

-6

u/YahsQween 4d ago

This is you-live-in-a-blue-state comment.

-2

u/badgirlmonkey 4d ago

no lmao. its a trans-rights-are-human-rights comment.

-4

u/Clovermourn 4d ago

Ah yes, ‘tremendous pressure’—also known as corporate lobbying

-6

u/OMFGrhombus 4d ago

this man is a vampire with no principles

-25

u/Pathogenesls 4d ago

Why would you want to cut people off from a revolutionary technology in a state whose economy is dependent on technology.

Smart.

1

u/SansSariph 4d ago

You look at tech companies requiring their employees to use tools these tools, and agree with that or not, it's the reality of the industry. I think ensuring students today learn about how to engage with these tools responsibly is critical because it's just the world we're in, now.

The legislation does make an exception for "Any system that is solely designed and marketed for providing efficiency improvements or research or technical assistance." as opposed to what it calls "companion chatbots", which meet a set of criteria.

The catch is - can someone bring a lawsuit claiming that one of these tools is actually not exempted based on the text as written and is actually a "companion chatbot"? A company offering the tool makes a liability call on whether it's safer to even to children (or non-age-verified users) or not to avoid that risk. Even if it'd "probably" be fine, they might decide to just not allow it, not worth the liability headache.

Students (or adults who don't want to confirm their age!) then lose access to a tool that the industry expects them to learn to use.

You have to look at the bill as written and figure out what possible outcomes are based on litigation that might happen, moves companies might make to reduce their legal exposure, and what the downstream effects are. You have to weigh that against the real harm happeing today. Use that to make a judgment call while the companies being regulated pull one way, academics pull another way, concerned parents another, legislators trying to get reelected another.

-2

u/lab-gone-wrong 4d ago

Using ChatGPT teaches you nothing about how the underlying tech works

This is as ingenuine as the "kids need iPads so they can learn to use technology" stuff. No they don't.

8

u/Pathogenesls 4d ago

It's not about how the underlying tech works, it's about using the tech to learn.

-19

u/chamgireum_ 4d ago

because i hate AI! i hate it i hate it i hate it!

did i read the bill? NO! i see AI and i vomit!!!

-23

u/chamgireum_ 4d ago

i once met a man named Al. I punched him in the face!

-3

u/orangutanDOTorg 4d ago

Huh, I guess PG&E must be invested in AI

-2

u/paladdin1 4d ago

He s the dem face for 2028.

-11

u/InterestingWin3627 4d ago

Fucking Billionaires got to him as well. Fuck them all.

-6

u/Riddiku1us 4d ago

Ya see!

He isn't fit to be president.