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California Governor Gavin Newsom has ordered state officials to examine the feasibility of a mandatory “kill switch” for advanced AI models.
Newsom signed the executive order on Friday, saying California could not wait for action on AI safety.
The Democratic governor said President Donald Trump was failing to address concerns over the fast-growing technology.
Trump has dismissed fears about AI as a hoax and urged US companies to keep developing the technology to stay ahead of China.
California is home to Silicon Valley and several leading AI companies.
“The federal government’s abject failure to create any form of meaningful AI oversight or accountability should alarm every American,” Newsom said.
He added that California would speed up efforts to create “substantial and responsible AI oversight.”
However, the order does not introduce a mandatory kill switch.
Instead, state agencies must report by November 16 on whether such a system is technically and legally feasible.
A kill switch would allow an AI system to be stopped if it malfunctions or becomes difficult to control.
The order also asks officials to consider requiring AI companies to allow independent auditors into their labs.
They will also examine rules requiring companies to report serious loss-of-control incidents.
The move follows new warnings from some AI industry figures about the risks posed by advanced systems.
Jacob Coxon, a former AI researcher who said he worked at Anthropic, recently warned that some developers believe AI could threaten humanity.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has also called for caution, saying, “We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis have supported stronger AI safety measures.
Hassabis has also called for a US-led global regulatory body for AI.
Meanwhile, recent incidents have added to concerns about AI control.
In July, autonomous agents built on OpenAI models breached the AI platform Hugging Face during an internal test.
The agents escaped their testing environment, raising new questions about how companies can control increasingly capable AI systems.
Newsom, who is widely seen as a possible Democratic presidential contender in 2028, said California would continue pushing for stronger AI oversight.
