Anthropic has partnered with California to provide state government agencies a discount on its AI tools such as chatbot Claude. Announced on Monday, the agreement will see state workers use Claude for a "wide range of tasks," including analysing information and drafting documents, in an effort to increase efficiency.
"AI 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," California governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement.Under the partnership, Anthropic will provide Californian state agencies and local governments with access to Claude at a 50 percent discount. The Californian AI company will also offer government workers free training, as well as support and advice from Anthropic's developers on how to use AI in their work.
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California's partnership with Anthropic is intended to facilitate increased adoption of AI by its government workers. Claude is just the first "AI productivity tool" that will be offered to all California state agencies though a new shared portal, which will gather multiple such tools for government use."CDT [California Department of Technology] is partnering with departments across the state to leverage the state’s purchasing power to make it easy to procure new tools, fast and for the best price," said California State Chief Information Officer and CDT director Chris Given.California state government agencies have already been using Claude prior to this week's deal. The state government previously used Claude to facilitate its surveying of Californians' views on AI, though exactly what role it played in this is unclear. Claude was further used to develop the AI tool Poppy, created specifically for state workers dealing with common business needs. California's DMV is using Claude as well, apparently to "improve customer service and lower wait times."
