California’s AI future depends on readiness, not rhetoric

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OPINION — California is often told it must choose between leading on AI and governing it responsibly. That tension is real, but it is not the whole story. The real challenge is much more practical:  whether our institutions can move fast enough, thoughtfully enough and collaboratively enough to turn AI from a technological breakthrough into broad public benefit.

That question is no longer theoretical. Businesses are moving from AI experimentation to real deployment. Local governments are exploring AI tools to improve service delivery. Workers are asking what these changes mean for their jobs and futures. Policymakers are trying to distinguish between today’s risks, tomorrow’s opportunities, and the technical details that matter.

This is where California must lead again, not only by producing the world’s most important AI companies, but by building the policy infrastructure that enables AI to improve lives.

That starts with the workforce. AI is unlikely to simply eliminate or create jobs in broad categories overnight; more likely, it will change work at the task level across nearly every sector, from technology and advanced manufacturing to health care, education, small business and public service. The question is not whether workers will use AI. It is whether they will be prepared to use it well.

California needs a state-wide workforce strategy equal to the scale of the transition. That requires moving beyond calls for reskilling and toward a more practical understanding of how specific tasks, skills and occupations are changing. The state should build stronger task-and-skill intelligence across workforce systems, launch sector-based AI readiness pilots through community colleges, and expand shared data standards so employers and public institutions can track changing needs in real time.

Employers also have a responsibility to map how AI is changing jobs internally, invest in AI literacy across the workforce and partner with public institutions on curriculum, credentials and talent pipelines. California’s community colleges are especially important. They are close to employers, accessible to learners and well-positioned to build middle-skill pathways into an AI-enabled economy. Done right, AI workforce readiness can expand opportunity rather than concentrate it.

Second, policymakers need a shared vocabulary for the technologies they are trying to govern. For example, Agentic AI is not simply a better chatbot. Operating on behalf of users and under their control, these systems can interpret goals, plan across multiple steps, use tools and support task completion across complex workflows. That creates enormous potential for productivity, customer service, cybersecurity, research, compliance and public-sector modernization. It also raises serious questions about trust, oversight, authority, security, traceability and human review.

Good policy starts with shared understanding. Policymakers do not need to become AI engineers, and no one is asking them to write code. But a baseline fluency with concepts such as supervised autonomy, human-in-the-loop review, prompt injection, and agent observability makes it far easier to craft rules that protect the public while allowing beneficial innovation to move forward. That also runs both ways. Industry should also explain these technologies in plain language. California should invest in practical policy education so lawmakers, regulators and civic leaders can govern AI with confidence and precision.

Third, AI adoption in government must become more coordinated and practical. Across California, cities, counties and public agencies are already exploring AI tools. But many lack the procurement systems, data infrastructure, governance frameworks or internal capacity needed to evaluate and deploy those tools effectively.

A recent review of local government AI adoption in California demonstrated a clear need for state-level support that helps agencies move from experimentation to responsible implementation. That should include model policies, procurement guidance, workforce training, transparency standards and shared practices for data protection and risk management. The goal should not be to force every local government into the same approach. It should be to give them the tools to make better decisions.

This matters because AI can help government serve people better. It can reduce backlogs, improve access to information, modernize outdated processes and help public employees focus on higher-value work. But those benefits require governance, training and trust.

California has the ingredients to lead: world-class companies, unmatched research institutions, diverse talent, strong public universities and a culture of innovation. What we need now is an AI policy agenda built for implementation.

That means preparing workers before disruption becomes dislocation. It means educating policymakers before technologies are misunderstood. It means helping governments adopt AI responsibly before fragmented systems create uneven results. And it means bringing industry, labor, educators and public leaders to the same table.

California’s AI future will not be shaped by innovation alone. It will be shaped by whether we can connect innovation to readiness, governance and public value.

If California gets this right, AI can strengthen our economy, improve public services and create new pathways of opportunity. But leadership is not inherited. It has to be built, deliberately, collaboratively and now.

Ziyang Fan is SVP of Technology & Innovation at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and serves as Executive Director of SVLG’s Institute for California AI Policy (ICAP).