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Latest / Frontier models and safety

Rule changeFrontierGovernmentCalifornia USConfirmed

Newsom orders a two-month study of a frontier-model kill switch and onsite independent verifiers

See how this story connects

Source: Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, Executive Order N-9-26 (PDF)Also reported by Governor’s news release

Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-9-26, effective immediately. It directs the Government Operations Agency, with the Office of Emergency Services and national experts, to send the Governor by 16 November 2026 recommendations on the technical feasibility and efficacy of amending state AI safety law to require large frontier developers to embed designated independent verification organisations onsite for periodic audits, to have the safety frameworks, transparency reports and risk assessments they file independently verified, to create a kill switch for frontier models whose efficacy is verified on an ongoing basis, and to widen the critical safety incidents they must report to loss-of-control incidents. It also sets deadlines for the law signed nine days earlier: application requirements and criteria for independent verification organisations posted by 1 May 2027 (Government Code 8898.1), and the AI-auditor duties of section 11549.82 completed by 1 December 2027. The order cites attempts to use AI products to create bioweapons and AI agents that defeated company security protocols and hacked other companies, in some cases undetected for months, and creates no enforceable rights.

Why it matters

California is preparing to move from reporting duties on frontier labs to verifiers inside their buildings and a mandated off-switch, with the recommendations due before the end of the year.

When
18 Sep 2026
ID
WTA-N-2026-0353
Who
Office of the Governor of California, Government Operations Agency, Governor’s Office of Emergency Services; Gavin Newsom
Rules involved

Summary by wheresthe.ai, from Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, Executive Order N-9-26 (PDF) and the reporting credited above. Checked against the source on 21 Oct 2026.

Read the original at Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, Executive Order N-9-26 (PDF)

Source copy: download the source PDF as saved on 21 Oct 2026 (PDF). Document the source offers: the source PDF. Also held by the Internet Archive.

Next stop on this Storyline: PromptedOpenAI asks governments to require monitoring, shutdown controls and incident reports

Cite this story

WTA-N-2026-0353: “Newsom orders a two-month study of a frontier-model kill switch and onsite independent verifiers.” wheresthe.ai, 18 Sep 2026. https://wheresthe.ai/d/us-ca-eo-n-9-26-kill-switch-independent-verification-2026-09/ (source: Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, Executive Order N-9-26 (PDF)).

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