Newsom Is Trying to Have It Both Ways on AI: Erika D. Smith

As governor of California, Gavin Newsom has a reputation for indulging in long-winded, over-the-top rants about his state. It has “no peers” as an “economic engine” and is “writing the rules of the future,” he often says, and anyone who doesn’t appreciate that obviously has “California derangement syndrome.”

Lately, though, it’s becoming clear that this isn’t the best messaging, especially since the “rules of the future” that California’s many artificial intelligence companies are writing are starting to upend Americans’ lives and livelihoods.

Suddenly, Newsom is walking a very fine political line as he prepares for a probable bid for president in ...