Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order Wednesday recognizing the risks and potential benefits of emerging AI technology for the state government, and ordering a number of departments to outline how the tech tools might best be harnessed by the state.

Mayor London Breed has called San Francisco “the artificial intelligence capital of the world,” and she’s not wrong: Companies like OpenAI, Scale AI and Anthropic have created a scene for the technology in the city that is far ahead of any other locale in attracting capital and talent. 

San Francisco and Oakland state lawmakers are pushing a bill through the Legislature that would raise tolls by $1.50 on seven Bay Area bridges starting next year and direct the revenue toward the region’s public transit systems that have been struggling to survive post-pandemic.

SACRAMENTO — Much of the debate about whether the government should regulate artificial intelligence has centered on Congress, where top AI voices have testified in highly publicized hearings.

But with a gridlocked Congress, some lawmakers and tech experts see the much more agile California Legislature as a key player in the debate. Gov. Gavin Newsom told The Chronicle he’s also starting to focus on the issue.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping the workforce, largely by shifting decision making processes into the hands of automated decision tools. The impact of this transformation has understandably drawn calls for robust regulation of the use of AI, but to date there is little to no government oversight on the development and deployment of automated decision tools.

But not for a lack of effort.

Several Bay Area lawmakers say they don’t support a bill that would temporarily raise tolls on seven state-owned bridges to give BART and other transit agencies more money to avoid service cuts.

California Democrats boast that their state is a haven for abortion seekers and providers. But in one big way, abortion rights supporters concede that they’ve failed in the year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. 

In California, less than two-thirds of counties have an abortion clinic. But nearly 80% have at least one “crisis pregnancy center,” according to a database compiled by CalMatters. 

Abortion rights advocates and lawmakers have long accused these centers — also known as anti-abortion centers — of coercing vulnerable people into remaining pregnant by misleading them about abortion procedures and contraceptive methods. In rural areas with acute primary care shortages, “crisis pregnancy centers” outnumber abortion clinics 11 to 2, a CalMatters analysis shows.