California moves to accelerate responsible AI in state government: new partnerships, new tools, and a statewide AI assistant
News - Dec 16, 2025
California announced a set of initiatives to partner with leading tech policy experts, modernize government services with AI, and roll out Poppy - a secure AI assistant for state employees. The goal is simple: deliver better services, reduce risk, and keep the state ahead of emerging tech without losing sight of public values.
"California is at the forefront of AI technology - and is home to some of the most successful and innovative companies and academic leaders in the world. We're not going to sit on the sidelines and let others define the future for us. But we're going to do it responsibly - making sure we capture the benefits, mitigate the harms, and continue to lead with the values that define this state." - Governor Gavin Newsom
"Our communities - especially women and kids - deserve a world that values them over the technology around them. Through our Technology Innovation Council, we're gathering the best minds to drive responsible technology that simultaneously protects and promotes our communities' well-being. California is leading the way to ensure a future where innovation goes hand in hand with online safety and technology complements real life." - First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom
What this means for government teams
- Poppy, a secure AI assistant, is being deployed to help staff work faster on common state tasks with pre-built queries.
- The California Innovation Council will advise on policy and practice across safety, fraud, service delivery, and workforce.
- An Emerging Technology Accelerator will connect agencies with expert partners to build and test real services.
- Over 20 AI trainings, a five-course certificate, and boot camps are available to grow skills statewide.
- New fellowships will bring expert talent into government to build responsible AI capacity.
Meet Poppy: AI for state work
Poppy is a GenAI assistant built for California state employees. It uses multiple large language models, runs on state infrastructure, and is grounded on public state data to reduce risk. It's already being developed and tested with more than 20 departments.
- Security: Runs through the state network and servers to keep data protected.
- Privacy: Does not use Californians' personally identifiable information.
- Reliability: Includes pre-built, easy-to-use prompts aligned to common state business needs.
- Models: Utilizes 11 AI models to provide flexible, task-specific results.
"We want to empower every State employee to be able to leverage AI to support their work. This tool is built around our statewide business processes, aligned with our values, and designed to make government work more efficiently. Poppy can accelerate GenAI adoption across California and enable our teams to focus on what matters most-delivering real results for the people we serve." - Liana Bailey-Crimmins, State CIO and CDT Director
AI training and fellowships
The California Department of Human Resources, Office of Data and Innovation, and Department of Technology now offer 20+ trainings on AI, including a five-course certificate and AI boot camps. UC Davis, Sacramento State, and Cisco are collaborating on courses covering adoption, ethics, and governance.
To deepen in-house expertise, new emerging technology fellowships have launched with UC's Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS) and with Stanford's Center for Ethics in Society.
Prefer additional self-paced learning outside state programs? Explore role-based options at Complete AI Training.
California Innovation Council: focus areas
The Innovation Council brings together policy leaders and institutions across academia, civil society, and industry. Participants include organizations such as the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI and the Mozilla Foundation.
- Protecting Child Online Safety and Countering Image-Based Abuse - led by the Office of the First Partner with support from CDT and the State Board of Education
- Countering Tech Fraud - led by the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency
- Modernizing Government Service Delivery - led by Government Operations Agency, including CDT and the Office of Data and Innovation
- Technology, Economic Development, and Workforce - led by GO-Biz and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency
Emerging Technology Accelerator partners
- Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI
- UC Berkeley
- Mozilla Foundation
- Tech Talent Project
- US Digital Response
- Nava Labs
Laws already on the books
- Protocols to foster the development of safe frontier AI models
- Strong protections for child safety and prevention of self-harm
- Crack down on sexually explicit deepfakes and require AI watermarking
- Protect performers' digital likenesses
- Prevent scams from AI-generated robocalls
Governor's Innovation Council - roster by working group
Protecting Child Online Safety and Countering Image-based Abuse
- Led by the Office of the First Partner with support from CDT and the State Board of Education
- Cailin Crockett, Senior Consultant, Global NCII Clearing Centre
- Adam Dodge, Founder, EndTAB
- Katya Hancock, CEO, Young Futures
- Sunny Xun Liu, Director of Research, Stanford Social Media Lab
- Larissa May, Founder & Executive Director, #HalfTheStory
- Candice Odgers, Director of Research and Faculty Development, School of Social Ecology, UC Irvine
- Sharon Olken, Board Member, State Board of Education
- Jenny Radesky, Co-Medical Director, American Academy of Pediatrics, Center of Excellence of Social Media and Youth Mental Health
- Derek Slater, Co-founder, Proteus Strategies
Modernizing Government Service Delivery
- Led by GovOps including CDT and the Office of Data and Innovation
- Jennifer Anastasoff, Founder & Executive Director, Tech Talent Project
- Krista Canellakis, Program Director, U.S. Digital Response
- Genevieve Gaudet, Director of Design, Nava Labs
- Dan Ho, Professor and Director, RegLab, Stanford University
- Tara McGuinness, Founder and Executive Director, New Practice Lab, New America
- Deirdre Mulligan, Professor, UC Berkeley School of Information; Faculty Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology
- Nabiha Syed, Executive Director, Mozilla Foundation
Technology, Economic Development, and Workforce
- Co-led by the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency
- Laphonza Butler, former US Senator
- Ronak Daylami, Vice President for Advocacy, Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Emerging Technologies, California Chamber of Commerce
- Molly Kinder, Senior Fellow, Brookings
- Julianne McCall, CEO, California Council on Science and Technology (CCST)
- Katherine Newman, Provost, UC Office of the President
- David Onek, CEO, Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund (SV2)
- Angie Wei, former Legislative Affairs Secretary, Governor Gavin Newsom
Countering Tech Fraud
- Led by the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, including the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation
- Kate Griffin, Director, Inclusive Financial System, Financial Security Program, Aspen Institute
- Carole House, Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council
- Johnette Jauron, Head of Cybercrimes Section, California Department of Justice
- Ted Mermin, Director, California Low-Income Consumer Coalition (CLICC)
- Leigh Phillips, President and CEO, Saver Life
- Kathy Stokes, Director of Fraud Prevention, Fraud Watch Network, AARP
- Erin West, Founder and President, Operation Shamrock
Why this matters
California is the fourth-largest economy in the world, home to leading tech companies, the strongest talent pipeline, and a large share of top AI startups. The state is using that position to upgrade public services, protect residents, and build guardrails where they're needed.
How to plug in (for state employees)
- Ask your department IT lead about Poppy access and approved use cases.
- Work with your training coordinator to enroll in AI courses or the certificate program.
- Identify a few high-impact workflows for Poppy or Accelerator support (content drafts, research synthesis, form guidance, internal knowledge search).
- If your work touches fraud, child safety, service delivery, or workforce, connect with your agency's lead for the relevant working group.
- Leads and managers: set clear usage guidelines, document wins and failures, and share lessons across your department.
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