We're about to find out if Silicon Valley owns Gavin Newsom

Hello friends, fam, and luddites -

Speaking of luddites, I was completely and pleasantly surprised to see the last post blow up. It turns out there is a lot of interest in and support for a Luddite Renaissance, as the organizers of one event described it; for organized protest of big tech, refusal of its toxic products, and for resisting the dominion of Silicon Valley’s AI. That story has officially led more machine breakers (in spirit and/or in practice) to sign up for this newsletter than any besides the launch post. Thanks to everyone who spread the word, and to Rebecca Solnit, who shared the post with her very activated audience. For the record, I’m always happy to use this space to share news of any and all grassroots tech-critical and Luddite events, movements and projects, so send them my way.

Today, we dig into the spate of California bills that could help rein in some of the AI industry’s worst impulses—if they make it past Gavin Newsom’s veto pen. California is such a major economic force that any laws passed here have implications for the entire country, even the world. They help set standards adopted elsewhere, and companies that adjust their products to meet California legal requirements often do so in other markets as well.

As always, I can only do this work thanks to my magnificent paid subscribers. As much as I’d like to be catching up on Alien: Earth I spent this week reading amended AI laws and talking to organizers, authors, and advocates who are hoping their yearlong toil will be enough to overcome the Silicon Valley lobbying machine and get some AI laws on the books. So, if reporting like this has value to you, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription so I can continue to do it. Thanks again to all who read, support, and share this work. OK enough of that. Onwards.

We’ve talked a lot in these pages about the Trump administration’s embrace of AI, Silicon Valley’s lobbying efforts to halt AI regulation, and the GOP’s push to ban state-level AI legislation altogether. All of those roads have led us here, to this point: Where the very laws that big tech and its political allies hoped to strangle in the cradle now sit on Gavin Newsom’s desk in Sacramento.

There’s obviously a lot going on right now, and ...