Senator Wiener’s Statement Supporting Governor Newsom’s AI Kill Switch Executive Order

Senator Wiener authored legislation requiring kill switches in 2024 and worked with the Governor to pass SB 53, the nation’s first AI safety law, in 2025.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Governor Newsom issued an executive order to strengthen the state’s response to recent rogue AI attacks, including the Hugging Face attack. The executive order advances, among other things, a proposal to require AI companies to build “kill switches,” or emergency shutdowns, into advanced AI models in case something goes wrong.

Senator Wiener (D-San Francisco) authored legislation requiring kill switches in 2024 (SB 1047) and then worked closely with the Governor to pass the nation’s strongest AI safety law in 2025 (SB 53). Senator Wiener issued the following statement in response to the EO:

“We must act with all possible haste to address the serious risks of AI-driven catastrophe, and I commend the Governor for taking this important step. He has my full support. Requiring emergency shutdown procedures, or kill switches, provides tangible guardrails to the public to prevent these disasters. I’m glad to see the strong AI safety framework I laid out in 2024 is still being used to guide policy in 2026.”

“California must not repeat the mistakes of Washington. We have the ability to get ahead of AI risks by setting strong guardrails. The Governor’s executive order is a challenge to all of us to take AI risk seriously, and the Legislature must follow with strong guardrails early next year.”

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