Gov. Gavin Newsom

Gavin Newsom is the 40th Governor of California, serving since January 2019 and re-elected in 2022. A San Francisco native and fourth-generation Californian, Newsom previously served as Mayor of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011 and as Lieutenant Governor from 2011 to 2019. He holds a Bachelor of Science in political science from Santa Clara University.

Newsom’s relationship with CalCompute spans the full arc of the initiative. In September 2024, he vetoed SB-1047 — the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act — which contained the original legislative proposal to create CalCompute. His stated rationale was that the bill regulated AI models based on computational size alone, without accounting for deployment context or actual risk. Simultaneously, he announced plans to convene a working group of leading AI UCs and academics — including Dr. Fei-Fei Li, Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, and Dean Jennifer Tour Chayes — to develop an empirical, evidence-based framework for AI governance.

That working group published a first-of-its-kind report in March 2025, providing the scientific and policy foundation for what became SB-53. On September 29, 2025 — exactly one year after his veto of SB-1047 — Newsom signed SB-53 into law. The signing formally established CalCompute in California Government Code Section 11546.8 and created the 14-member Consortium charged with delivering a framework report to the Legislature by January 1, 2027. Newsom described CalCompute as the “Innovation” pillar of SB-53, alongside the law’s transparency, safety, accountability, and responsiveness provisions.

In his signing statement, Newsom declared: “California has proven that we can establish regulations to protect our communities while also ensuring that the growing AI industry continues to thrive. This legislation strikes that balance.”

Under Newsom, California has pursued an expansive AI agenda: signing a 2023 government order on responsible state AI procurement, co-hosting a GenAI summit in May 2024, launching a first-of-its-kind AI collaboration with NVIDIA, and signing a series of laws targeting AI-generated deepfakes and requiring watermarking. California is home to 32 of the 50 top AI companies worldwide and leads the nation in AI employment, accounting for 15.7% of all U.S. AI job postings in 2024.