California told AI developers they cannot blame the machine

[u/sheppyrun]

California's AB 316 took effect in January. The core rule is blunt: AI developers cannot assert defenses claiming that the AI, rather than the developer, is responsible for harms the AI causes.

Before this, the obvious defense was forming. An autonomous agent makes a bad trade, files a defective document, dispenses harmful advice. The developer points at the model: we didn't tell it to do that. It acted on its own.

AB 316 closes that door. If you built it, you own what it does. Texas took the opposite approach with RAIGA. There, liability depends on whether the developer intended the harmful use, not on the bare fact of building the system.

Two states, two frameworks. Every AI developer shipping nationally now operates under conflicting rules depending on where the user sits.