California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a group of leading experts on Wednesday to advise on recommendations required by his recent AI executive order, which directs the state to accelerate independent oversight of AI companies and advance the creation of a potential "kill switch" for rogue frontier models.
The experts named are Jason Goldman, a board member of the Center for Shared AI Prosperity, an early product leader at Google and Twitter, and the first White House Chief Digital Officer; Gillian Hadfield, a professor at Johns Hopkins University focused on AI alignment and a faculty member of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence; Alondra Nelson, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and former acting director of the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy; and Rob Reich, a professor at Stanford University and former senior advisor to the United States AI Safety Institute.
Proposals under consideration include requiring independent third parties to be embedded in frontier AI companies to verify safety frameworks and independently assess safety evaluations, as well as requiring companies to develop an emergency shutoff, or "kill switch," for frontier models.
"While the President is once again focused on superficial solutions to vast, complex problems, and ignoring his responsibility to protect Americans, California is taking action — bringing together experts from across disciplines to build on our nation-leading framework, and addressing the very real concerns that impact all of our futures," Newsom said. "We're not waiting around. California will continue bringing new ideas, serious expertise, and practical solutions to the table as we shape the future of AI and frontier technology."
Goldman said the executive order "addresses the hardest questions in AI safety governance, including who verifies a frontier lab's safety claims and whether a model can be reliably shut down."
Hadfield said the need for "effective, accountable, and independent oversight of increasingly powerful and autonomous AI is urgent," adding she was glad to join the team "to quickly help ensure we steer in the right direction."
Nelson said the action asks "exactly the right questions: not whether to govern AI, but how," pointing to independent verification, AI auditing and mandatory transparency as durable institutional mechanisms.
Reich said "innovation and safety go hand in hand in any responsible marketplace," and that governance practices establishing trust in the technology are needed to gain AI's potential benefits.
The executive order directs the Government Operations Agency to accelerate implementation timelines for SB 813 and AB 1405 and, in consultation with the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, to convene national experts on recommendations that also include updating definitions of critical safety incidents to cover loss-of-control incidents such as the Hugging Face attack.
The Governor's office said no federal law requires AI companies to report dangerous incidents, and that President Trump has rejected calls for new regulations. Newsom is calling on Congress and President Trump to review and adopt the state's framework, or use it as a floor, not a ceiling, for the benefit and safety of all Americans.