‘500 Days of Summer’ Star Is Warring with Gavin Newsom Over A.I.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt has taken up the mantle against the ever-growing reach of artificial intelligence, which has now seeped into just about every facet of society, consequences be damned. He’s been even more vocal about the need to stringently regulate the technology. Now, he’s taken his advocacy against unregulated A.I. to California’s top boss.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Levitt called California Governor Gavin Newsom “too scared” to sign a bill that would put more legal oversight on A.I. Newsom vetoed the legislation on Monday, which would prevent minors from accessing A.I. chatbots.
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“While I strongly support the author’s goal of establishing necessary safeguards for the safe use of A.I. by minors, (the bill) imposes such broad restrictions on the use of conversational A.I. tools that it may unintentionally lead to a total ban on the use of these products by minors,” Newsom said in a statement regarding his decision.
Levitt, of course, wasn’t satisfied with Newsom’s decision. “Governor @GavinNewsom failed to stand up to Silicon Valley and put our kids in harm’s way,” he captioned a video he posted to X. Levitt criticized the other bill that Newsom did sign regarding A.I. regulation, which Levitt claims is chock-full of loopholes designed to make it easier for tech companies to evade ethics stands. Per Levitt, the bill is a big “do nothing bill” that will not hold Big Tech accountable for the ways in which its products impact kids.
Hearing Levitt speak, it’s hard not to think about a recent guest on The Daily Show. Talking to Jon Stewart, Tristan Harris warned about the dangers of unregulated A.I., particularly the goal of A.I. tech giants targeting children with chatbots. Harris is an ethicist and the co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, and his predictions for the future of A.I. were absolutely chilling.
There’s nothing humanitarian about these tech companies pushing for more intimate relationships with chatbots, either. “You’re seeing now all of these companies release these A.I. companions,” Harris explained. “You know, the number one use case for ChatGPT, according to Harvard Business School, is personal therapy. So people are sharing their most intimate thoughts with this thing.”
“We’re seeing Meta release this and actively tell in their internal documents that were released, (in) a Wall Street Journal report, that they wanted to actively sensualize and romanticize conversations with as little as eight-year-olds,” Harris continued.
This information stunned Stewart, who repeatedly uttered, “Eight-year-olds?”
These seem to be the stakes that have Levitt upset. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that just weeks before the deadline to sign or veto all these bills that could regulate A.I., Big Tech: Google, Meta, OpenAI launched these huge Super PACs worth hundreds of millions of dollars aimed at attacking candidates who might regulate A.I.,” Levitt continued in his video. “I guess Mr. Newsom was scared that if those hundreds of millions of dollars were directed at attacking him, it might hurt his chances at winning (the presidency) in a few years when he runs.”
Levitt and Harris aren’t pulling their fears out of thin air. On top of the ample reporting regarding the potential and established harms of A.I., OpenAI’s own Sam Altman recently shared on X that ChatGPT will soon support erotica content for adults.
Newsom might not be afraid to stand up to President Trump, but it seems he’s lost that courage when it comes to standing up to creepy tech giants.
