Governor Gavin Newsom is asking artificial intelligence-based firms to assist solve the state's most pressing problems: housing and homelessness.
On Thursday, Newsom announced the state would seek proposals from AI developers comparable to Bay Area tech giants Google and Open AI to assist agencies provide homeless individuals with shelter or treatment options and speed up local approval processes for reasonably priced housing.
“As the birthplace of the technology industry and the world's fifth-largest economy, California is not afraid to progress,” Newsom said in a press release. “We will use every tool at our disposal to address some of the most difficult problems of our time, including the housing and homelessness crises.”
At last count, there have been an estimated 181,000 homeless people in California, which is almost one in three homeless people nationwide. Despite spending $24 billion on homeless programs since 2019, the state still falls far wanting enough shelter and treatment space for all of its homeless population.
California has also set a goal of constructing 2.5 million recent homes for people of all income levels by 2031. But construction has stalled over the past two years, largely as a consequence of rapidly rising rates of interest.
How precisely the recent AI programs might work continues to be unclear. The firms will outline possible solutions and costs of their proposals. The state plans to carry a gathering with AI developers later this month to debate how the “big language model” technology could possibly be used. Proposals could then be accepted as early as November.
As a part of this effort, the state also plans to ask AI firms to assist analyze the fiscal and political implications of the state budget.
Last September, Newsom signed an executive order directing state agencies to determine policies for using AI tools and study how they’ll profit from the technology. Some agencies are already contracting for tools they hope will reduce traffic, assist teachers and improve government operations. The state tax agency, for instance, wants to make use of an AI program to assist call center employees answer questions on the state tax code.
The same firms Newsom is courting to develop these tools are also lobbying him to dam probably the most sweeping AI regulation bills within the country. That bill, SB 1047 by Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, would force AI firms to implement security measures to forestall cyberattacks on critical infrastructure or automated crime, and make AI firms responsible for damages.
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