SB 53

What it is

Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act (SB 53, Chapter 138, Statutes of 2025)

Developers that train frontier models above 10^26 operations; large frontier developers, with over $500 million in annual revenue, carry the heaviest duties.

What it requires

• Large developers publish a frontier SI framework, review it yearly and post material changes within 30 days
• Publish a transparency report before deploying a new or substantially modified frontier model
• Report critical safety incidents to Cal OES within 15 days, or within 24 hours if there is imminent risk of death or serious injury
• Large developers send Cal OES summaries of internal catastrophic risk assessments every three months
• Protect whistleblowers, with an anonymous internal reporting channel at large developers

Penalties

Civil penalties of up to $1 million per violation, enforced only by the California Attorney General.

What happens next

January 1, 2027: First annual Cal OES report on critical safety incidents, Attorney General whistleblower report and Department of Technology review of frontier definitions due.

Status

In force As of November 8, 2026, per the Control Map page for California. Statuses follow the Control Map method: in force means binding and applying now; passed means enacted but not yet applying; voluntary covers guidance and pledges; proposed means formally introduced; stalled means withdrawn, paused or dead.

Sources

1. SB 53: Artificial intelligence models: large developers CalMatters Digital Democracy
2. California SB 53: Frontier AI Law Explained CASRAI · Sep 19, 2026
3. OpenAI wants California to toughen the AI law it once fought The Next Web · Aug 24, 2026