Existing law establishes within the Government Operations Agency the Department of Technology, which is supervised by the Director of Technology, who also serves as the State Chief Information Officer. Existing law authorizes the director and the department to exercise various powers in creating and managing the information technology policy of the state. Existing law requires the director, among other duties, to establish and enforce state information technology strategic plans, policies, standards, and enterprise architecture. Existing law also requires the department to be responsible for the approval and oversight of information technology projects, as specified.

Executive Order No. N-11-19 established the Future of Work Commission whose primary mission is to study, understand, analyze, and make recommendations regarding, among other things, the impact of technology on work, workers, employers, jobs, and society, as well as methods of promoting better job quality, wages, and working conditions through technology. The executive order requires the commission to, among other things, compile research and best practices from other states and countries on how to deploy technology to benefit workers and the public good, and to develop tools to assess the impact of proposed technologies and evaluate their costs and benefits to workers, employers, the public, and the state.

This bill would authorize the director to designate a position within the department to evaluate the uses of artificial intelligence in state government and to advise the Director of Technology on incorporating artificial intelligence into state information technology strategic plans, policies, standards, and enterprise architecture. The bill would require the department, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, and in consideration of the recommendations of the Future of Work Commission, to adopt guidelines by January 1, 2021, to govern the use and implementation of artificial intelligence technologies in state government functions. The bill would require the guidelines to include, but not be limited to, standards for, among other things, identifying projects and project components to increase efficiency.