SAG vs AI actors, California AI law & more (Sept 30, 2025)

Good morning,

Regulation, creativity, and capital collide in today’s AI headlines. From California’s first AI safety disclosure law to Hollywood’s fight against synthetic actors and Vercel’s sky-high valuation, the stakes keep rising.

Let's dig in👇

💰 Money Moves

📜 Newsom Signs California AI Safety Disclosure Law

Governor Newsom signed SB 53 requiring AI safety disclosures for major AI firms. The law mandates that developers publish risk-mitigation protocols and report safety incidents. It positions California as a regulatory frontier in AI, potentially sparking national frameworks.

🎭 SAG-AFTRA Condemns AI Actress Tilly Norwood

SAG-AFTRA condemned the use of an AI actress named Tilly Norwood as undermining human creativity. The union argues the AI was trained on the unlicensed work of real actors and threatens livelihoods. It raises urgent questions about IP, consent, and the future of performance work.

💰 Vercel Notches $9.3 Billion Valuation in Latest AI Funding Round

Vercel secured a $9.3 billion valuation in its latest funding round. The raise underscores investor confidence in developer-first AI infrastructure. It highlights how AI-native platforms are becoming critical backbones of modern app ecosystems.

🚀 New Launches

🤖 Anthropic Releases Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic announced its new model, Claude Sonnet 4.5. Tests show it autonomously coded a full web app over 30 hours, far beyond prior runtimes. The release deepens competition in enterprise AI agents and pushes benchmarks in autonomous model behavior.

🚀 Amazon launches new AI feature

Amazon unveils the next generation of AI-powered Echo devices, designed for Alexa+. The move strengthens Amazon’s position in the connected home market with more advanced conversational AI. It also signals how consumer AI is quickly moving from novelty to necessity in everyday devices.

✨ Dell unveils Power Edge for AI

Dell unveiled its PowerEdge XR8720t server, designed for AI-intensive workloads. The server promises higher performance in edge deployments, helping enterprises train and run models closer to data sources. Dell’s push reflects the rapid demand for hardware optimized for AI everywhere, from cloud to edge.

🧰 Tools of the Day

→ Station - AI Creator Revenue Assistant that helps you find sponsors
→ Multiplayer - Full stack session recordings: record, code, fix, repeat
→ Pod AI - AI Phone Agent

✍️ Prompt of the Day

"You're my legal-tech advisor. Review this contract clause [paste it] and identify 3 ambiguities or risk exposures with respect to AI usage, then propose precise redlines to protect my firm."

⚡ Quick Hits

→ OpenAI launches Sora 2 TikTok-style AI video app.
→ Keysight launches wireless simulation platform with AI integration.
→ CoreWeave signs $14B deal to provide Meta with GPU compute.
→ Research accelerator for frontier AI labs.
→ Pennsylvania turnpike launches AI.

🧾 TLDR

California is stepping in with the first major AI safety law, while SAG-AFTRA is drawing a hard line against synthetic actors. At the same time, Vercel’s $9.3B valuation shows that investor appetite for AI infrastructure is red hot. On the product front, Anthropic’s Sonnet 4.5, Amazon’s Alexa upgrades, and Dell’s new server all highlight the rapid pace of launches across the consumer, enterprise, and hardware landscape.

Cheers,
David