Who Would Be Authorized to Stop a Frontier Model?

1 A mechanism that does not exist yet

California Governor Gavin Newsom's September 18, 2026 executive order directs state agencies to accelerate independent oversight of frontier AI and to "advance the creation" of an emergency shutoff, or kill switch, for frontier models. According to the governor's office, the shutoff is a proposal under consideration, not a deployed capability: no kill switch for a frontier AI system exists today.

2 What the order actually directs

The order instructs the Government Operations Agency, in consultation with the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, to convene national experts and deliver recommendations within two months. Proposals under consideration include requiring companies to develop an emergency shutoff for frontier models, embedding independent verification organizations onsite in labs, verifying state-filed safety frameworks against independent standards, and expanding critical-incident definitions to include loss-of-control events such as the Hugging Face attack.

3 Who would give the order

The order assigns development to companies and verification to third parties, but it does not name who could activate a shutoff in an emergency. Independent verification organizations certified under SB 813 and auditors registered under AB 1405, both signed in 2026, would verify the mechanism's efficacy on an ongoing basis. Triggering authority, evidentiary standards, and post-intervention review are left for the expert group to define.

4 Conditions that could trigger action

Existing state law already requires frontier developers to disclose safety frameworks and report specified critical safety incidents under SB 53, signed in 2025. The order proposes extending incident definitions to loss-of-control incidents, which the governor's office cites alongside recent incidents as the motivation for acting. What threshold of evidence would justify an intervention is unspecified.

5 Review after an intervention

The order describes no process for reviewing a shutdown once ordered. The gap matters because a shutoff affecting shared infrastructure would carry its own economic and safety costs. As written, the mechanism would be verified continuously and in advance, but not adjudicated after the fact.

6 Enacted foundation, proposed superstructure

Three pillars of the oversight stack are enacted law: SB 53 on transparency and incident reporting, SB 813 on certifying independent verification organizations, and AB 1405 on registering AI auditors. The kill switch, the embedded-verifier requirement, independently verified filings, and the expanded incident definitions are proposals that would require further legislation or rulemaking.

7 The bottom line

A kill switch for frontier models is proposed, not built. Authority to activate one is undefined and sits among the questions the convened experts are expected to answer within two months. Under the order as written, verification would be continuous and independent of the companies being shut down.