Manny’s: From Sacramento to Silicon Valley: California takes on AI

California is aiming to set the standard for reining in the swiftly growing AI industry that has largely developed within the state’s own borders. Dozens of bills are currently working their way through the state legislature to set rules for everything from deepfakes, to preserving jobs for workers, to the very definition of artificial intelligence.

Against this backdrop, and the RSA cyber conference in San Francisco, POLITICO’s Jeremy White will sit with State Senator Scott Wiener, one of the key lawmakers behind California’s AI bills, as well as veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur Shomit Ghose to discuss the state’s role in regulation — and how it could set the tone for policies nationwide.

About Sen. Scott Wiener: Elected in November 2016 and reelected in 2020, Senator Scott Wiener represents District 11 in the California State Senate. District 11 includes all of San Francisco, Broadmoor, Colma, and Daly City, as well as portions of South San Francisco.

In the State Senate, Senator Wiener works day and night to make housing more affordable; strengthen and expand our public transportation systems; increase access to health care, including mental health and addiction treatment; ensure families have access to food, child care, paid family leave, and other critical supports; fight climate change and keep California in the lead on climate action; reform our broken criminal justice system; and safeguard and expand the rights of all communities, including immigrants and LGBTQ people.

Before his election to the Senate, Senator Wiener served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, representing the district previously represented by Supervisor Harvey Milk. During his time on the Board of Supervisors, Senator Wiener authored a number of first-in-the-nation laws, including mandating fully paid parental leave for all working parents and requiring water recycling and solar power in new developments. He focused extensively on housing and public transportation, authoring laws to expedite approval of affordable housing, legalize new in-law units, and tie public transportation funding to population growth.

Before his election to the Board of Supervisors, Senator Wiener spent fifteen years practicing law: as a Deputy City Attorney in the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, in private practice at Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe, and as a law clerk for Justice Alan Handler on the New Jersey Supreme Court. Senator Wiener co-chaired the Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club, BALIF (the Bay Area’s LGBTQ bar association), and the San Francisco LGBTQ Community Center, and served on the national board of directors of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization.Senator Wiener grew up in New Jersey, the son of a small business owner and a teacher, and attended public school. He received a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a law degree from Harvard Law School. He spent a year in Chile on a Fulbright Scholarship doing historical research. He has lived in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood since 1997.

About Shomit Ghose: Shomit Ghose is a partner at Clearvision Ventures, a Silicon Valley Venture fund focused on energy and infrastructure sustainability. Previously, he was general partner at ONSET Ventures, where he led investments in early-stage, data-centric start-ups from 2001 through 2021.

Ghose has served as a lecturer at UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering since 2018, teaching about data and AI, and is also an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship and innovation at the University of San Francisco. He additionally holds a role as entrepreneurial advisor at the University of California, Riverside.

Prior to entering venture capital, Shomit spent 19 years as a start-up entrepreneur, serving in virtually all functional roles, and participating in multiple successful exits, including Sun Microsystems, Broadvision and Tumbleweed.

Shomit has served on both public and private boards, and multiple scientific advisory boards, in both the U.S. and Europe.

He received his degree in computer science from UC Berkeley, and is proudly a product of California’s public school system.

Jeremy B. White is a senior reporter covering the intersection of politics in policy in California. He’s been watching Sacramento for a decade, most recently as co-author of the California Playbook and, before that, for the Sacramento Bee.A Maryland native who still believes in the Washington Nationals, lives in Berkeley with his wife and his cat, Ziggy Pawdust.