California could soon deploy generative artificial intelligence tools to help reduce traffic jams, make roads safer and provide tax guidance, among other things, under new agreements announced Thursday as part of Governor Gavin Newsom’s efforts to harness the power of new technologies for public services.
The state is partnering with five companies to create generative AI tools using technologies developed by tech giants such as Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Google- and Amazon-backed Anthropic that would ultimately help the state provide better services to the public, administration officials said.
“It is a very good sign that a lot of these companies are putting their focus on using GenAI for governmental service delivery,” said Amy Tong, secretary of government operations for California.
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The companies will start a six-month internal trial in which state workers test and evaluate the tools. The companies will be paid $1 for their proposals. The state, which faces a significant budget deficit, can then reassess whether any tools could be fully implemented under new contracts. All the tools are considered low risk, meaning they don’t interact with confidential data or personal information, an administration spokesperson said.
Newsom, a Democrat, touts California as a global hub for AI technology, noting 35 of the world’s top 50 AI companies are located in the state. He signed an executive order last year requiring the state to start exploring responsible ways to incorporate generative AI by this summer, with a goal of positioning California as an AI leader.
FILE – California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks in Larkspur, Calif., April 16, 2024. California could soon deploy AI tools to help solve problems, under agreements announced May 9, 2024, as part of Newsom’s efforts to harness technologies for public services.
In January, the state started asking technology companies to come up with generative AI tools for public services. Last month, California was one of the first states to roll out guidelines on when and how state agencies could buy such tools.
Generative AI, a branch of AI that can create new content such as text, audio and photos, has significant potential to help government agencies become more efficient, but there’s also an urgent need for safeguards to limit risks, state officials and experts said. In New York City, an AI-powered chatbot created by the city to help small businesses was found to dole out false guidance and advise companies to violate the law. The rapidly growing technology has also raised concerns about job losses, misinformation, privacy and automation bias.
While state governments are struggling to regulate AI in the private sector, many are exploring how public agencies can leverage the powerful technology for public good. California’s approach, which also requires companies to disclose what large language models they use to develop AI tools, is meant to build public trust, officials said.
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The state’s testing of the tools and collecting of feedback from state workers are some of the best practices to limit potential risks, said Meredith Lee, chief technical adviser for the University of California-Berkeley’s College of Computing, Data Science and Society. The challenge is determining how to assure continued testing and learning about the tools’ potential risks after deployment.
“This is not something where you just work on testing for some small amount of time and that’s it,” Lee said. “Putting in the structures for people to be able to revisit and better understand the deployments further down the line is really crucial.”
The California Department of Transportation is looking for tools that would analyze traffic data and come up with solutions to reduce highway traffic and make roads safer. The state’s Department of Tax and Fee Administration, which administers more than 40 programs, wants an AI tool to help its call center cut wait times and call length. The state is also seeking technologies to provide non-English speakers information about health and social services benefits in their languages and to streamline the inspection process for health care facilities.
The tools are to be designed to assist state workers, not replace them, said Nick Maduros, director of the Department of Tax and Fee Administration.
Call center workers there took more than 660,000 calls last year. The state envisions the AI technology listening along to those calls and pulling up specific tax code information associated with the problems callers describe. Workers could decide whether to use the information.
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Currently, call center workers have to simultaneously listen to the call and manually look up the code, Maduros said.
“If it turns out it doesn’t serve the public better, then we’re out $1,” Maduros said. “And I think that’s a pretty good deal for the citizens of California.”
Tong wouldn’t say when a successfully vetted tool would be deployed, but added that the state was moving as fast as it can.
“The whole essence of using GenAI is it doesn’t take years,” Tong said. “GenAI doesn’t wait for you.”
A showdown between Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer in the California governor’s race would have made climate policy one of the most talked-about issues through November.
Now, environmental advocates are preparing for their work to fade into the background.
Steyer, the billionaire climate activist who ran as a progressive, finished third in the primary behind Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton, the Trump-backed political commentator. His loss ended a campaign that spent millions on ads attacking Becerra for accepting oil industry money and promising to break up power companies.
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“I’m proud of the enemies we made,” Steyer said in a concession statement Tuesday, singling out energy corporations like Chevron and PG&E that infused millions in independent expenditure committees opposing him.
A pest that is considered a major threat to California’s vineyards and its $73-billion wine industry has been found on grapevines sold at Northern and Central California Costco stores between April 21 and May 21, according to authorities.
The glassy-winged sharpshooter, which was first identified and detected May 19 from grapevines sold at a wholesaler in Fresno, is a small invasive insect that can spread a strain of bacteria, Xylella fastidiosa, that kills grapevines by “clogging their water-conducting vessels (xylem).” The deadly plague is called Pierce’s disease. Several other strains of the bacteria exist and can infect other host plants, including citrus, stone fruits, almonds, oleander and some shade trees, according to the California Pierce’s Disease Control Program.
If the insect was left unchecked, the disease could cost the California wine industry $166 million annually, California Department of Food and Agriculture officials said in an email.
The insect can be identified by its flat triangular head, large eyes and clear wings. The head is brown to black and has several ivory to yellowish spots, which helps separate it from its native counterpart, the smoke-tree sharpshooter. The insect is often found on the stems of plants and grows up to about half-an-inch as fully grown adults, according to the University of California.
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“While many vines have been intercepted and destroyed, locating the thousands that may still be in customers’ hands remains our top priority,” said California Secretary of Agriculture Karen Ross in a press release. “Anyone who purchased these vines should contact their local agricultural commissioner immediately.”
California’s wine grape industry supports more than 422,000 jobs statewide, according to the CDFA.
The glassy-winged sharpshooter was first reported in California in the early 1990s and is native to the southeastern U.S. and northeastern Mexico. The insect was first identified as a threat in August 1999, when more than 300 acres of grapevines in Temecula were infested with the glassy-winged sharpshooter and Pierce’s disease and subsequently destroyed, the CDFA reported.
Overall, the disease has costs growers and government agencies about $110 million a year in losses and compliance costs, according to a March 2025 report titled The Costs of Pierce’s Disease in the California Grape and Wine Industry.
Up to 13,000 grapevine plants potentially infected by the bacteria have been sold across a total of 24 Northern and Central California counties, the CDFA said.
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“In addition to destroying infested stock still in Costco warehouses, CDFA is working with agricultural commissioners and conducting public outreach to locate vines sold to consumers across 24 counties, as well as neighboring at-risk counties,” CDFA authorities said in a press release.
“Officials are responding to public reports, conducting inspections and public outreach, and trapping near stores and locations where purchased vines were taken. They are also ensuring that potentially infested plants are safely contained and disposed of,” the press release said.
Costco has also been working with the CDFA to notify customers, issue refunds to those who purchased the grapevines and assisted in connecting them to local agricultural officials in the impacted counties “for inspection and disposal guidance,” the CDFA said in a notice about the pests.
Authorities are asking residents that purchased the grapevines in the impacted counties to follow strict guidelines, including to isolate the plant and wrap it in double trash bags and contact their county agricultural commissioner, authorities said.
CDCR staff assisted local, state and federal law enforcement agencies May 28 for Operation Hands Down, a large-scale gang takedown.
Overall, 43 search warrants were served at different locations throughout the San Joaquin Valley.
This marked the culmination of a two-month undercover operation focusing on Mexican Mafia and Sureño gang members committing various crimes.
Crimes included homicides, firearms trafficking, narcotics trafficking, shootings, robberies, assaults, sex offenses against minors and organized violence within custodial facilities.
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Operation Hands Down results in 69 arrests
Results:
69 arrests
73 guns, many high-capacity magazines, rounds of ammunition seized
narcotics, cash confiscated
500 pounds of methamphetamine was seized. Photo courtesy Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
The drugs included 55 pounds of methamphetamine, three pounds of cocaine and a small amount of fentanyl powder. Nearly $165,000 was seized, which derived from narcotics trafficking, firearms sales and organized street gang taxes.
The arrests of these men, women and children are expected to have an immediate impact on lowering violence across California’s Central Valley.
“By disrupting these criminal organizations, we are confident our hard work will deliver a sense of peace to residents who deserve to feel safe in their communities,” according to the agencies.
The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and the Multi-Agency Gang Enforcement Consortium (MAGEC) thanked the numerous law enforcement agencies for their assistance throughout this investigation.
Multiple agencies focus on disrupting gangs
In total, more than 500 law enforcement members participated.
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Some of their specialized assignments are: Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT), Air Support Unit, K-9 Unit, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), Incident Management Team (IMT), Dispatch Unit, Crime Analyst Unit and Fresno County Jail Correctional Officers.
Participating agencies / task forces included:
California Department of Justice Special Operations Unit
Federal Bureau of Investigations
Fresno County District Attorney’s Office
Homeland Security Investigations
CHP
CDCR
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
U.S. Marshals Service
Police departments from Clovis, Coalinga, Fresno, Kingsburg, Madera, Reedley, Sanger, Selma and Visalia
Tulare County Sheriff’s Regional Gun Violence Enforcement Team (TARGET)
Kings County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Task Force (MCTF)
Madera County Sheriff’s Office
Merced County Sheriff’s Gang and Narcotic Enforcement Team (MAGNET)
This remains an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information that can help detectives, report it by contacting the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office at 559-600-3111. You may also contact Valley Crime Stoppers at 559-498-7867 or www.valleycrimestoppers.org. You will remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward.
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