California

Officials at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services have deployed a new tool with robotic process automation that scans suspicious emails. It has eliminated a backlog of nearly 3,000 messages.

The proposed bill is the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act. It would regulate “development and deployment of advanced AI models,” in part by creating a new regulator, the Frontier Model Division.

Two proposals now before the state Legislature would bar sending push notifications to kids at night and during school hours, and prohibit businesses from collecting, using or sharing minors’ data without their consent.

Technology businesses were expanding at roughly a $35 billion a year pace during California's five-year economic surge that ended last September, constituting nearly a third of statewide growth.

The Superior Court of Los Angeles County was hit by ransomware Friday, disrupting “many critical systems.” The courthouses remained closed Monday as the jurisdiction worked to recover from the cyber attack.

The money, allocated by a budget trailer bill, will enable the California State Payroll System Project to hire a system integrator. The initiative, underway since 2016, will replace a significant piece of legacy.

That’s one of the main ideas driving a deal between Geographic Solutions and California prison authorities. The company’s software is helping give soon-to-be-released inmates a chance to apply for jobs.

Yolo County is proactively enhancing the security and trustworthiness of its online presence by transitioning all county professional email accounts and webpages from the ".org" domain to the ".gov" domain.

The Elk Grove Police Department plans to add three aerial drones to assist in the line of duty, a trend that many law enforcement agencies have recently adopted to contribute to service.

Interim CIO Michael Makstman, in place since Jan. 1, has been made permanent and will lead the city-county’s Department of Technology. Makstman has been with San Francisco more than six years and was previously its CISO.

Four days after a ransomware attack crippled its systems, the California-based Patelco Credit Union remained unable to tell its members when banking operations would return to normal.

Nearly three months after a ransomware attack disrupted phone lines, computer services and Wi-Fi across Solano County's public libraries, systems are still down with no recovery in sight.

State lawmakers are working to define key terms and address risks as AI gets integrated into everyday life. California state Sen. Thomas Umberg talks about balancing regulation and innovation.

The California Public Utilities Commission has awarded $45 million in grant funding to three regional Internet service providers, the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership announced recently.

Although the exact date has yet to be finalized, the Silicon Valley drone technology company Matternet will launch its pilot program in its Northern California home city later this year.

A bipartisan bill to make Google and Facebook pay news companies whose work appears on their platforms to help struggling media faced its first test in the state Senate recently, but it passed out of committee.

Timing and cost are not yet clear, but the state is seeking bids from vendors to harness artificial intelligence to translate a range of documents and websites around “health and social services information, programs, benefits and services.”

Providers around Fort Worth, Texas, and the San Francisco Bay Area are using technology to expand on-demand options for riders. The availability can help connect first- and last-mile areas that lack service.