Smart Governance, Safer Innovation: A California AI Sandbox with Guardrails
Teo Chee Loong
Submitted to Berkeley AI Policy Hackathon. Projects from partner hackathons are early-stage work by participants, not Apart Research publications.
California is home to global AI innovation, yet it also leads in regulatory experimentation with landmark bills like SB-1047 and SB-53. These laws establish a rigorous compliance regime for developers of powerful frontier models, including mandates for shutdown mechanisms, third-party audits, and whistle-blower protections. While crucial for public safety, these measures may unintentionally sideline academic researchers and startups who cannot meet such thresholds.
To reconcile innovation with public safety, we propose the California AI Sandbox: a public-private test-bed where vetted developers can trial AI systems under tailored regulatory conditions. The sandbox will be aligned with CalCompute infrastructure and enforce key safeguards including third-party audits and SB-53-inspired whistle-blower protection to ensure that flexibility does not come at the cost of safety or ethics.
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Cite this project
@misc{loong2025smart,
title = {{Smart Governance, Safer Innovation: A California AI Sandbox with Guardrails}},
author = {Teo Chee Loong},
year = {2025},
month = apr,
note = {Submitted to Berkeley AI Policy Hackathon, a partner hackathon},
howpublished = {\url{https://apartresearch.com/sprints/projects/smart-governance-safer-innovation-a-california-ai-sandbox-with-guardrails-gq7c}},
url = {https://apartresearch.com/sprints/projects/smart-governance-safer-innovation-a-california-ai-sandbox-with-guardrails-gq7c}
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