Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act (SB 53)
California · SB 53 (Stats. 2025)
The first US frontier-AI safety law in effect: the largest AI model developers must publish safety frameworks and transparency reports, report critical safety incidents to the state, and protect whistleblowers who raise catastrophic-risk concerns.
Technical detail
TFAIA requires 'frontier developers' (training runs above 10^26 FLOPs; large developers with $500M+ revenue face fuller duties) to publish safety frameworks, report critical safety incidents to Cal OES within 15 days (24 hours for imminent threats), and maintain whistleblower channels.
Who is protected: The public; employees and contractors of frontier AI developers (whistleblower protections)
Who must comply: Frontier AI developers meeting compute thresholds; enhanced obligations for large frontier developers ($500M+ annual revenue)
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | California |
|---|---|
| Level | State |
| Status | In effect |
| Protection strength | Limited protection |
| Effective date | 2026-01-01 |
| Enacted | 2025-09-29 |
| Citation | SB 53 (Stats. 2025) |
| Enforced by | California Attorney General; incident reporting to California Office of Emergency Services |
| Private right of action | No — agency enforcement only |
| Penalties | Civil penalties up to $1,000,000 per violation |
| Topics | AI disclosure and transparency · consumer protection · government use of AI |
| Last verified | 2026-08-10 |
| Official source | California Legislative Information: SB 53 (2025–2026) ↗ |
More AI rules in California
- CA EO N-6-26 (AI Workforce) · In effect
- California AB 489 (AI healthcare chatbot misrepresentation ban) · In effect
- X.AI v. Bonta (AB 2013 training-data disclosure) · Blocked / in litigation
- CA SB 1298 (2012 AV authorization) · In effect
- CA AB 856 (2015 drone trespass) · In effect
- California Bot Disclosure Act (bots must self-identify in sales/election messaging) · In effect
Related AI disclosure and transparency rules elsewhere
- Trump AI Innovation & Security EO (June 2026) · In effect
- CO ADMT Act (SB 26-189, 2026) · Enacted (not yet in effect)
- Utah SB 319 (health insurer AI) · Enacted (not yet in effect)
- FERC order directing PJM and other grid operators to reform · Enacted (not yet in effect)
- Morris County resolution urging state oversight of data cent · Enacted (not yet in effect)
- SU-47 Special-Use Data Center Zoning District Ordinance · Proposed / pending
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