California Governor Newsom names experts to advance AI kill switch

Governor Gavin Newsom appointed a panel of experts including Jason Goldman, Gillian Hadfield, Alondra Nelson and Rob Reich to advise on recommendations under his recent AI executive order. The order directs acceleration of independent oversight of frontier AI companies, embedding of third-party verifiers in labs, and advancement of an emergency shut-off or “kill switch” for frontier models whose efficacy would be independently verified. The move builds on existing California laws requiring safety frameworks, incident reporting and independent auditing.