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SB 53

By Updated

California's frontier-AI transparency law (TFAIA), in force 1 Jan 2026, covering frontier developers training models above 10^26 FLOP: all of them publish transparency reports and report critical safety incidents, and large frontier developers also publish a safety framework 12.

Developed in
ch. 08, Frontier-developer laws
Chapters
ch. 08, Regulatory Map · ch. 21, AI Laws Worldwide
Source
2 numbered references, listed below

Where it is used

6 chapters of the Body of Knowledge use the term. Each link opens the first section that does.

SB 53: mentions per chapter18 mentions of the term across 6 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter02 Why Now: 2 mentions02 Why Now208 Regulatory Map: 2 mentions08 Regulatory Map210 Reading List: 2 mentions10 Reading List212 Governance Program: 3 mentions12 Governance Program317 Incidents: 1 mention17 Incidents121 AI Laws Worldwide: 8 mentions21 AI Laws Worldwide8No mentions in the other 17 chaptersSource: the Body of Knowledgev0.5.0
SB 53: mentions per chapter18 mentions of the term across 6 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter000102 Why Now: 2 mentions202030405060708 Regulatory Map: 2 mentions20810 Reading List: 2 mentions2101112 Governance Program: 3 mentions3121314151617 Incidents: 1 mention11718192021 AI Laws Worldwide: 8 mentions8212223Source: the Body of Knowledge v0.5.0
Mentions per chapter How often each chapter names the term, with the chapters the glossary cross-references drawn solid. The longest bar is where to read the term in use; bars spread across many chapters mark a term that runs through the discipline.
Mentions as a table
Mentions of SB 53 per chapter
ChapterMentionsCross-referenced
00 Preface0No
01 Definition0No
02 Why Now2No
03 Values & Principles0No
04 The Stack0No
05 Patterns0No
06 The Role0No
07 Maturity Model0No
08 Regulatory Map2Yes
10 Reading List2No
11 AI Defined0No
12 Governance Program3No
13 Risk Management0No
14 Development0No
15 Deployment0No
16 Fairness & XAI0No
17 Incidents1No
18 EU AI Act0No
19 Privacy & AI0No
20 Existing Law0No
21 AI Laws Worldwide8Yes
22 Principles & Standards0No
23 AI Agents0No
SB 53: related terms and patternsThe term at the centre; related terms on solid edges, the terms it is contrasted with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer.RelatedSB 53Related terms (3)Frontier model · RelatedFrontier modelRAISE Act · RelatedRAISE ActTransparency · RelatedTransparency
SB 53: related terms and patternsThe term at the centre; related terms on solid edges, the terms it is contrasted with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer.RelatedRelated terms (3)Frontier model · RelatedFrontier modelRAISE Act · RelatedRAISE ActTransparency · RelatedTransparencySB 53
The term's neighbourhood Terms related to this one on solid edges, terms it is often confused with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer. Follow a dashed edge to check the distinction before you use either term.
Neighbourhood as a table
Neighbourhood of SB 53
FamilyItemRelation
Related termsFrontier modelRelated
Related termsRAISE ActRelated
Related termsTransparencyRelated
  • Frontier model

    A general-purpose model at or near the capability frontier.

  • RAISE Act

    New York's Responsible AI Safety and Education Act, a frontier-AI safety law binding large frontier developers to publish a safety framework and every…

  • Transparency

    In NIST's framing, how far information about an AI system and its outputs reaches the people who interact with it: what happened.

Sources

  1. [1] California SB 53 / TFAIA (models above 10^26 FLOP; transparency reports and incident reports by all frontier developers; frameworks by large frontier developers). Future of Privacy Forum. 2025-10-03. https://fpf.org/blog/californias-sb-53-the-first-frontier-ai-law-explained/ (verified: secondary)
  2. [2] SB 53, Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act (Chapter 138, Statutes of 2025, approved and filed 29 Sep 2025; a regular-session statute, in force from 1 Jan 2026 under Cal. Const. art. IV, §8(c)(1); frontier model > 10^26 operations; large frontier developer > USD 500M revenue; frontier AI framework; transparency report; critical safety incidents to the Office of Emergency Services within 15 days). California Legislature. 2025-09-29. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB53 (verified: primary)

Definitions of legal terms paraphrase the cited text, which governs. Dated statements are as of .

Cite this term

García Aibar, J. (2026). SB 53. In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis & Body of Knowledge (v0.5.0), Glossary. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197. https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/sb-53. CC BY 4.0

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026sb53,
  author  = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title   = {{SB 53}},
  note    = {Glossary, AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis \& Body of Knowledge, version 0.5.0},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.5281/zenodo.22956197},
  url     = {https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/sb-53}
}