As 2024 came to a close, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed 18 new AI laws, while also vetoing high-profile AI legislation, setting the stage for a busy 2025 in AI regulation. According to Mark Weatherford, a seasoned expert in cybersecurity and policy, states are likely to lead the way in regulating AI, with California at the forefront.

Weatherford, who has served as Chief Information Security Officer for the states of California and Colorado, as well as Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity under President Barack Obama, believes that states will drive the regulatory efforts in 2025. "I absolutely believe that," he said in an interview. "In California, I think Governor Newsom, just within the last couple months, signed 12 pieces of legislation that had something to do with AI."

Weatherford's prediction is based on the sheer volume of state-level legislation introduced in the past year, with over 400 different pieces of legislation aimed at regulating AI. He notes that while there is a need for harmonization of regulations across states, it's unlikely to happen anytime soon. "There's not a lot of incentive to harmonize regulations, except that I can see the same kind of language popping up in different states — which to me, indicates that they're all looking at what each other's doing."

California's approach to AI regulation is seen as a model for other states to follow. Weatherford believes that California's comprehensive legislation, which covers a range of issues from pornography to using data to train websites, will push other states to take similar action. "California does kind of push the envelope [in tech legislation] that helps people to come along, because they do all the heavy lifting, they do a lot of the work to do the research that goes into some of that legislation."

While states are expected to take the lead in AI regulation, the federal government's approach is less clear. Weatherford notes that the House report on AI, released earlier this week, is a step in the right direction, but its impact is uncertain. "I don't know. It depends on how much emphasis the [new] Congress brings in. I think we're going to see. I mean, you read what I read, and what I read is that there's going to be an emphasis on less regulation."

Weatherford's own company, Gretel, is a synthetic data company that believes more regulation will push the industry towards using more synthetic data. "One of the reasons I'm here is, I believe synthetic data is the future of AI. Without data, there's no AI, and quality of data is becoming more of an issue, as the pool of data — either it gets used up or shrinks."

The issue of AI "censorship" — the various weights and guardrails that companies put around the content created by generative AI — is also expected to be regulated. Weatherford believes that the government will take action to address concerns around AI censorship, but finding the right balance between reasonable content moderation and restrictive censorship will be a challenge.

Ultimately, Weatherford is optimistic about the future of AI, despite the challenges that lie ahead. "I think we're going to have a couple of bumpy years as people more in tune with it and more understand it, and legislation is going to have a place there, to both let people understand what AI means to them and put some guardrails up around AI."

As the AI landscape continues to evolve, one thing is clear: 2025 will be a pivotal year for AI regulation, with states taking the lead and the federal government playing a supporting role. As Weatherford notes, "AI is changing daily. It's mindblowing to me that issues we were talking about just a month ago have already evolved into something else."