California AG, Microsoft, UNICEF Clash Over Who Should Set AI Safety Rules

A Concordia Annual Summit panel brought together California's attorney general, Microsoft's trust chief, UNICEF's general counsel, and a serial entrepreneur to debate the most urgent question in tech governance: who regulates AI, and how fast? The conversation spanned child safety, government fraud, and the looming arrival of artificial general intelligence — with broad agreement that the window for action is closing.

• California AG backs dual-track regulation, arguing the federal government should set a floor while states build higher ceilings

• UNICEF says child safety is now a legal compliance obligation, not an optional product design feature, and pushes digital impact assessments before products ship

• Microsoft's trust lead warns 1.42% of people will be victims of non-consensual intimate imagery, calls for age assurance built into every product

• Entrepreneur warns $200 billion-plus in government benefits are stolen annually — and AI-powered fraud will make it worse

• Panel consensus: "Hope is not a strategy" — cross-sector, cross-party collaboration must accelerate

Why it matters: With no federal AI law on the books, the question of who writes the rules will shape whether the United States leads or lags on AI governance — and how much regulatory whiplash companies and residents face in the meantime.