Joseph Gordon-Levitt Calls Out Gavin Newsom for Vetoing AI Bill: “Too Scared to Sign It”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is publicly criticizing California Governor Gavin Newsom for rejecting a bill aimed at regulating artificial intelligence for children.
The actor called Newsom “too scared” to approve the legislation, which would have limited AI chatbots for people under 18 unless the platforms could prevent harmful content, including sexual conversations and encouragement of self-harm.
The Associated Press reported that Newsom vetoed the bill, saying its rules were too broad and could accidentally stop minors from using AI entirely.
At the same time, the governor did sign a law that makes platforms tell users when they are interacting with a chatbot, and requires measures to prevent content that could lead to self-harm.
Gordon-Levitt, who has been vocal about AI issues, expressed his disappointment on X. He argued that the new law only “claims to protect kids from predatory AI companions” but actually contains “loopholes and legal language that’s been letting Big Tech off the hook for a long time.”
The actor said the vetoed bill would have forced tech companies to improve their products for children. “While he signed this do-nothing bill, he vetoed a good bill that really would have held Big Tech’s feet to the fire and made them change their products to be better for our kids,” he said.
He added that the timing of the veto made him suspicious. “I guess Mr. Newsom was scared that if those hundreds of millions of dollars were directed at attacking him, it might hurt his chances at winning president in a few years when he runs.”
Gordon-Levitt also noted some positive aspects of Newsom’s leadership. “It’s sad because there is a lot to like about Governor Newsom. I think he’s been doing a good job at standing up to Donald Trump and the rise of authoritarianism in this country. But you know, in my opinion, the rise of authoritarianism here and all over the world originates in large part with these algorithms.”
Governor @GavinNewsom failed to stand up to Silicon Valley and put our kids in harm’s way. pic.twitter.com/fnddMVUMea
— Joseph Gordon-Levitt (@hitRECordJoe) October 15, 2025
“These attention-maximizing algorithms that drive the social media products and now the AI products that make so much money for these companies.”
The actor’s comments came shortly after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced plans to allow adult users to access erotica on ChatGPT, saying, “As we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our ‘treat adult users like adults’ principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.”
Gordon-Levitt has criticized AI in the past. In a July op-ed for The Hollywood Reporter, he condemned what he called “big AI companies’ unethical business practices,” particularly how they use creative work without permission or payment. “The truth is that today’s GenAI couldn’t generate anything at all without its ‘training data’ — the writing, photos, videos and other human-made things whose digital 1s and 0s get algorithmically crunched up and spit out as new,” he wrote.
“For more than half a decade now, AI companies have been scraping up massive amounts of this content without asking permission and without offering compensation to the people whose creations are so indispensable to this new technology.”
He added, “These tech products are not people. And our laws should not be protecting their algorithmic data-crunching the way we protect human ingenuity and hard work.”
This debate highlights growing concerns about how AI affects children and society. It raises questions about the balance between innovation, safety, and accountability. In my view, stricter rules for AI are needed, especially to protect kids, while still allowing adults to use the technology responsibly.
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