AI
Newsom orders AI 'kill switch' probe
California governor directs experts to study mandating a shutdown mechanism for frontier AI models.
YESTERDAY, STILL WORTH KNOWING
Still
Crunchy.
Governments and companies grapple with the practicalities of AI oversight, from air traffic control to data cleaning, while hardware and gaming news highlights performance and meme
State-Level AI Oversight and Regulation
California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued an executive order directing state experts to recommend safety measures for frontier AI models. A key proposal under consideration is mandating a 'kill switch' for these systems. This move positions California to set a global precedent for government intervention in rapidly advancing AI infrastructure. The directive requires recommendations within two months, suggesting a push for immediate legislative action.
Separately, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger has signed an executive order to review data centre approvals and ban nondisclosure agreements for these projects. The order empowers local communities to have a larger say in data centre development, addressing concerns about environmental impact and transparency. This follows a broader trend of state-level scrutiny as the demand for AI infrastructure grows.
AI in Critical Infrastructure and Data Management
The US Federal Aviation Administration is investing $875 million in an AI tool to assist air traffic controllers. The system, known as SMART, will predict air traffic flows and identify potential conflicts in the Washington, DC, area. Officials say the tool could debut as soon as 21 September. This initiative aims to improve safety and reduce delays in one of the world's busiest airspaces.
The United Nations has partnered with Google to prepare its global data for use by AI agents. The collaboration follows a test by UNICEF which found that leading AI models struggled to accurately retrieve global development statistics. The project highlights the need to clean and structure legacy data before it can be effectively used by modern AI tools.
Hardware and Gaming Developments
A developer has ported NVIDIA's DLSS 5 neural rendering to Intel's integrated graphics, achieving a proof-of-concept result. The project, titled 'dlss-nr-on-intel', runs the DLSS 5 U-Net model on Intel's XMX units via a Vulkan extension. While technically impressive, the performance is painfully slow at 10 frames per second. The developer credits AI agents for much of the work, including the generation of a hallucinated driver bug.
Nintendo of America's COO has declared that the company's success is only the beginning, citing record-breaking sales of the Switch 2 and the recent reveal of a Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake. The console has become the fastest-selling hardware in US history, with sales reaching nearly 20 million units just one year after launch. Former PlayStation executives Shuhei Yoshida and Adam Boyes have also recreated their iconic PS4 game-sharing meme, this time without a physical disc, nodding to the shift toward digital-only gaming.