Artificial Intelligence

California is where modern AI was built. The majority of the world’s leading AI companies are headquartered here, and this technology holds real promise to improve the lives of Californians: earlier disease detection, faster permitting, shorter lines at the DMV, and breakthroughs in medicine and science, once the stuff of imagination. That is the promise of progress, and California has always embraced progress.

But California cannot accept technology moving so fast that a worker’s right to make a living and be treated with dignity is left behind, or that a child’s safety comes second to profit, or that the technology poses catastrophic risks to public safety. I am determined to channel this technology for human benefit, not as an engine of private wealth for the few, but as a force that lifts every Californian. If this technology transforms the economy as rapidly as many predict, the government must be ready to act: adjusting tax, spending, and regulatory priorities, and doing whatever it takes to keep people employed,economically secure, and safe. The gains of this moment will not be allowed to accrue only to those already at the top. I have taken on the most powerful industries in this state and won, and I will bring that same resolve to any entity that puts profit ahead of people in the age of AI.

My approach is grounded in partnership with the technology sector, with workers, and with the communities whose lives this technology will shape. I believe responsible innovation and strong guardrails are not in tension, but in balance. California has shown that before, and we will show it again.

With the federal government AWOL on the field — and that must change — California must set the standard. As Governor, I will work with labor, industry, safety experts, and impacted communities to get that done. California is a laboratory of innovation, and we should take pride in what the bright minds of this state have built. The question is never whether to innovate, it’s whether we have the leadership to make sure innovation works for everyone. I intend to answer that question and to make sure no Californian is left on the outside of this moment looking in.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Innovation That Works for Everyone. California built this technology, and California should benefit from it. AI should broaden opportunity, not concentrate it. My administration will pursue policies that help businesses grow, empower workers, and ensure the gains of this moment reach every community, not just the ones already at the top.

Accountability First, With Industry at the Table. Through a process that includes industry input but is not captured by it, we will set firm guardrails around real harms, including threats to critical infrastructure, child safety, and harms that could emerge when AI accelerates dangerous capabilities or operates beyond human oversight.

Workers Must Share in the Gains. The most valuable asset of our economy is our workers. They will be my priority. Technology should lift workers up, not leave them behind. Workforce investment and transition support are not barriers to progress; they are what make progress sustainable.

A California That Brings Everyone Along. Opportunity requires access, and access requires partnership. My administration will work directly with the industry that built this technology to ensure every Californian, in every zip code, has the tools and knowledge to participate in this moment.

POLICY AGENDA

1. Expand AI Literacy for Every Californian

   AI literacy means understanding how AI functions, recognizing its benefits and risks, and using it safely and effectively, and right now that knowledge is not evenly distributed. My administration will work through California’s public schools, libraries, and community colleges to ensure every Californian, regardless of zip code or background, has the tools to participate in this moment. Community institutions are already serving as vital hubs for AI skills training, and my administration will resource and scale that work in partnership with industry, so the communities historically left behind by technological change are at the front of the line this time.

2. Leverage AI to Tackle California’s Most Intractable Problems

   California faces challenges that have resisted decades of conventional policy: homelessness, housing affordability, climate adaptation, and a health care system that reaches some communities far better than others. My administration will actively partner with the technology sector and research institutions to direct AI toward these problems, deploying it inside state government to cut permitting delays, improve benefits delivery, and find efficiencies that have long eluded us, while ensuring every deployment is transparent, audited, and developed alongside the workers it affects.

3. Responsible AI in State Government

   AI has real potential to improve how California delivers services: faster permitting, earlier detection of public health risks, and more accessible benefits navigation. My administration will pursue that potential with full transparency and rigorous evaluation. Every California civil servant whose role is affected by automation should have a voice before that decision to deploy is made, not after. And every AI system deployed by a state agency will be subject to an independent audit.

4. Track and Respond to AI’s Economic Impact

   Automation is already eliminating jobs in measurable numbers, and the advances of artificial intelligence are accelerating both the pace and the scope of that change. The state’s existing labor market infrastructure will be directed to continuously track AI’s effects on wages, employment, and sector-level displacement, with findings feeding directly into workforce investment decisions and, where the data demands it, broader policy intervention to ensure that workers come first and the gains of this technology are broadly shared with all Californians.

5. Workforce Investment and Transition Support

   Displacement without support is abandonment. I will work with the Legislature, the California public education system and industry partners to build accessible, stackable workforce programs that prepare Californians for the AI economy and support workers navigating role changes. The goal is a skilled workforce that benefits employers and workers alike, with real, reachable transition support, not plans that exist only on paper.

6. Fund CalCompute

   Startups, researchers, and public institutions should not be locked out of frontier AI infrastructure. I will fund CalCompute fully and make it operational, ensuring it delivers on its promise of broad, equitable access to AI infrastructure.

7. Data Centers, Clean Energy, and Ratepayer Protection

   California’s electric ratepayers must come out winners from the growth of advanced computing infrastructure. I will pursue an economic-forward standard: data centers that operate in California add value to our current energy infrastructure, are powered with clean energy, cover the costs of their own energy needs, and meet environmental performance disclosure requirements. In return, my administration will improve data center permitting programs and provide the policy certainty industry needs to invest and grow in California and the technological opportunities of tomorrow.

8. Enforce & Strengthen California’s AI Standards

   California has the nation’s strongest AI safety laws. I will ensure existing requirements are actively enforced, close the gaps that allow bad actors to evade accountability, and work closely with technologists, workers, industry and communities to review, track and strengthen standards as the technology evolves. Good rules mean nothing without monitoring and enforcement.

9. Protect Children and Families

   Child safety and well-being must be foremost in the formulation of California’s AI policy. AI products accessible to children carry real risks: content promoting self-harm and suicide, manipulative design that exploits adolescent psychology, and AI-generated personas presented as real. I will direct the full resources of my Administration and use its platform to hold accountable any company willing to put profits ahead of children’s safety.

10. Transparency in Automated Decision-Making

    Workers and consumers deserve to know when consequential decisions about them are shaped by algorithms, and to have meaningful recourse. My administration will pursue transparency and human review standards for high-stakes automated decisions that significantly affect a person’s livelihood, health, housing, or freedoms that are clear, proportionate, and workable.

11. Build a National Framework

    The Trump administration has abdicated federal responsibility on AI governance, leaving a patchwork of state laws, or no laws at all. This ultimately protects no one. A national framework is essential, and California cannot wait for Washington to act. I will work across party lines to push states – red and blue – to adopt California standards and create a national framework. Strong standards and a thriving AI sector don’t have to be in conflict, and California is fully capable of setting the gold standard.