California has struck a first-of-its-kind agreement with Anthropic to deploy the company’s AI model across state government, giving state agencies access to Claude at a 50% discount, along with free workforce training and technical assistance from Anthropic developers.<\/p>\n
The deal also extends the discounted offer to California’s cities and counties\u2014a scope that sets the partnership apart from more narrowly targeted government AI contracts seen elsewhere.<\/p>\n
State workers will be able to use Claude for drafting and summarizing documents, analyzing information, and supplementing day-to-day tasks\u2014the kind of administrative work that consumes large portions of government employees’ time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis partnership is about using technology the California way: responsibly, transparently, and in service of people,\u201d said California Governor Gavin Newsom, in a statement. \u201cAI should not replace the human work of government; it should help our workers move faster, solve problems more effectively, and deliver better results for Californians.\u201d<\/p>\n
Claude will be the first AI productivity tool made available to all state agencies through the California Department of Technology’s new Statewide Information Technology Shared Services portal, which centralizes AI tools in one place with transparent pricing.<\/p>\n
The announcement builds on a relationship California has already quietly developed with Anthropic. The state has used Claude to power Engaged California, a deliberative democracy platform, and in developing Poppy, an internal AI tool built by state workers. The Department of Technology and the Office of Emergency Services are also using Claude for cybersecurity purposes, including scanning and patching state code.<\/p>\n