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Newsom signs order creating AI oversight panel and kill switch

By Drooid · Sep 18, 2026, 6:34 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order accelerating state AI oversight on Sept. 18, 2026.
The order creates a two-month expert panel to recommend audits and a mandatory kill switch.
Newsom urged President Donald Trump and Congress to adopt California’s AI framework as a federal baseline.
The panel will consider adding loss-of-control events like the Hugging Face attack to critical safety incident definitions.

History

Historical Context

In April 2021, the European Union unveiled the AI Act, mandating significant risk-based classifications for artificial-intelligence systems across all member states. The European Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen, projected €15 billion in annual compliance costs for the continent’s 1,200 AI providers. California Governor Gavin Newsom’s September 2026 executive order mirrors the EU model, urging President Donald Trump and Congress to adopt a comparable state-level kill-switch framework. If adopted nationally, the policy could align U.S. AI oversight with European standards, influencing global tech firms like OpenAI and Hugging Face to implement safety audits.

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Story summary

Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order accelerating state AI oversight on Sept. 18, 2026.
The order creates a two-month expert panel to recommend audits and a mandatory kill switch.
Newsom urged President Donald Trump and Congress to adopt California’s AI framework as a federal baseline.
The panel will consider adding loss-of-control events like the Hugging Face attack to critical safety incident definitions.

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