Our compliance framework for California's SB 53

Summary

California’s Transparency in Frontier AI Act (SB 53), taking effect January 1, requires frontier AI developers to publish frameworks explaining how they assess and manage catastrophic risks. Anthropic’s public Frontier Compliance Framework (FCF) covers cyber offense; chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats; AI sabotage; loss of control; model-weight protection; and safety-incident response. It describes a tiered system for evaluating model capabilities across those risk categories and the mitigations used, while building on the company’s Responsible Scaling Policy and model system cards. Anthropic says the FCF will serve as its compliance framework for SB 53 and other regulatory requirements, while the RSP remains a voluntary policy that may go beyond current rules. The company also argues for a federal standard requiring public secure-development frameworks, deployment system cards, whistleblower protections, flexible minimum standards, and coverage limited to established frontier developers.

Takeaways

1. 1

   The Frontier Compliance Framework addresses cyber offense, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats, AI sabotage, and loss of control.

2. 2

   The FCF uses a tiered system to evaluate model capabilities against risk categories and explains the corresponding mitigation approach.

3. 3

   Anthropic proposes federal transparency requirements that preserve flexible technical implementation and apply only to established frontier developers.