TechCrunch reported that:

Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and Anthropic have made a deal that allows California government agencies to use Claude at a discounted price. This agreement comes at a time when businesses are struggling to manage the hefty costs of enterprise subscriptions to AI tools.

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California’s embrace of Claude suggests that if you can’t lick ‘em, join ‘em - especially if you wrangle a 50% discount. Perhaps the most important indicator of a trend is government usage, often the last cohort to embracing new technologies,

But then what happens to state government employees? How will the most progressive state in the nation deal with possibly redundant employees? Is there a backlash? Perhaps, it is too early to answer, and certainly Gov Newsom thinks this will remain under control. 

“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,” Governor Newsom said in a statement.

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