Telepeer

Newsom can harness AI to improve government without stifling innovation and advancements

April 14, 2026

California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed an executive order to develop AI regulations within 120 days, aiming to balance public safety with the risk of stifling innovation. The order requires companies to demonstrate the safeguards they have in place before the state agencies can purchase their AI services. The order also states that the government may suspend or ban state contracts with AI companies that violate existing civil liberties, such as stifling freedom of speech or engaging in surveillance. Newsom also proposed watermarks on AI content to help prevent the spread of misinformation.

“California leads in AI, and we’re going to use every tool we have to ensure companies protect people’s rights, not exploit them or put them in harm’s way,” Gov. Newsom said. “While others in Washington are designing policy and creating contracts in the shadow of misuse, we’re focused on doing this the right way.”

While Newsom’s intentions might be good, state legislators regulating fast-moving AI companies and this rapidly evolving technology are likely to enact rules that quickly become outdated and harmful to consumers. AI systems have been improving dramatically every six to 12 months for several years, and that advancement is expected to continue. Laws written this year will be outdated before they take effect.

Most AI companies are already identifying and addressing ways to improve safety as they develop. Still, they also need flexibility to explore a variety of approaches without being restricted by the state government’s rigid frameworks. These companies should be held accountable under existing laws.

The good news in Gov. Newsom’s executive order is that it also calls on the state to “identify opportunities for GenAI to strengthen government transparency and accountability, improve performance, and make government services easily accessible for every Californian” and to expand training on “emerging technology, including artificial intelligence, leveraging partnerships with industry and nonprofit partners.”

If implemented by state agencies, those benefits could be significant for taxpayers. At the Department of Motor Vehicles, for example, AI is likely going to speed up paperwork, scheduling, license renewals, and registration updates. At Medi-Cal, artificial intelligence should more efficiently determine eligibility, identify fraud and waste, and reduce the red tape and administrative burdens that slow needed health care. Partnering with AI firms should soon deliver many cost-effective reforms and efficiencies that many state agencies have long struggled to achieve.

But California has also been down this regulatory road before. Decades of well-intentioned laws and rules have made it harder and more expensive to build housing, energy projects, and infrastructure. Laws like the California Environmental Quality Act have added years of review, blocked and delayed projects and driven up costs. Applying the same complex regulations, lengthy reviews and bureaucratic timelines to AI risks repeating those mistakes.

If legislators do move forward with rules on how state agencies can buy and use AI services, they should keep those rules simple, clear, measurable and easy to update. It’s reasonable to require AI companies seeking to partner with the state to demonstrate that their systems are safe, protect privacy, and are accountable to taxpayers before selling them to the government. But broad, vague requirements are likely to bog down the process, making needed reforms slow and unpredictable.

To protect the public without stifling innovation, the better approach is straightforward standards that focus on results, like how well the technology helps the state improve its services and save taxpayers’ money in the real world, rather than establishing rigid rules about how AI systems must be built that end up preventing progress.

If Gov. Newsom wants California to remain the global leader in AI, the state should not slow down the innovation that made it the leader in the first place.

Richard Sill is a technology policy fellow at Reason Foundation.

Orange County Register

News Details

Newsom can harness AI to improve government without stifling innovation and advancements

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

News

CONTACT INFO

QUICK LINKS

SERVICES

CURRENT NEWS