Providence Technology Group

Waymo’s self-driving vehicles now have the go-ahead to operate in the capital region, following a decision quietly made last week by the California Department of Motor Vehicles to expand the company’s driverless testing territory beyond the Bay Area and Los Angeles. But don’t expect to hail an autonomous taxi just yet. Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com

A major safety study led by UC Davis Health tested an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered electrocardiogram (ECG) model to see how well it could detect severe heart attacks. The findings showed that the Queen of Hearts AI-based ECG platform outperformed standard triage in the emergency department and two other locations. It identified ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) heart attacks more accurately and with far fewer false alarms. Keep Reading This Article at UC Davis Health

Ever since California’s DELETE Act was signed into law two years ago, attention quickly shifted to how the California Privacy Protection Agency would develop its one-stop-shop platform for consumers to request deletion of their personal information held by data brokers. During a breakout session at the IAPP’s Privacy. Security. Risk. 2025 conference in San Diego, several CalPrivacy staff members showcased how the new Delete Request and Opt-out Platform, or DROP system, will work. During the conference several industry stakeholders shared their reactions to the DROP system demonstration, as well as their thoughts on automated deletion requirements more broadly. Keep Reading This Article at IAPP

There are around 9,000 political lobbyists in Sacramento, the capital of the fourth-largest economy in the world – but look beyond the backroom deal-making of California’s Capitol building and you’ll find a city in pursuit of reinvention. Sacramento is ready to shed its reputation as a “government town,” as Barry Broome, CEO of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council (GSEC), refers to it, and become a central part of the US’ semiconductor industry. Keep Reading This Article at Investment Monitor

In a groundbreaking move, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two California bills that make it illegal to use AI to impersonate an actor’s voice, likeness, or performance without their explicit permission. The bills, AB 1836 and AB 2602, aim to extend protections for performers in the age of synthetic media. Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com

TIME magazine recently released its Best Inventions of 2025, highlighting the emerging technology and products that are “changing how we live, work, play, and think about what’s possible.”      UC’s ever ingenious faculty and alumni are right in the thick of it, being lauded for innovations that could help cure baldness, control tremors in people with Parkinson’s disease, and offer a new biological tool for protecting endangered species, among others. The recognition from TIME comes shortly after Pitchbook placed six UC campuses — Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Davis, and Irvine — among the world’s top 100 universities for undergraduate alumni who started venture-backed businesses. Keep Reading This Article at University of California News

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday announced a handful of new laws regulating artificial intelligence and social media even as he vetoed what he said were overly broad measures to regulate the technology. The bills Newsom signed Monday aim to crack down on artificially generated pornography, require warning labels on social media websites, and regulate AI chatbots for minors. But he vetoed a bill that would have prohibited companies from letting children use chatbots that promote sex or violence and another that would have banned employers from letting AI decide when to fire people. Keep Reading This Article at Yahoo News

As the world’s innovation hub, California continues to lead. Today, Governor Gavin Newsom signed two pieces of legislation into law and announced new funding to help maintain California’s ongoing dominance in emerging technologies that are fueling our future. The bills and new funding will advance California’s dominance in quantum and fusion technologies, helping to ensure the state continues to produce a strong talent pipeline, foster new research and development, and create opportunities for these technologies of the future to grow in regions throughout the state. The Governor signed the legislation and announced the new funding at the National Quantum Information Science Research Centers at the University of California, Berkeley, one of two national quantum centers in the state.   ...[Read More]

The drive is about the size of a deck of playing cards. But, company executives say, it could store every movie released in the 1990s. It’s a technological feat by Solidigm – the Rancho Cordova-based memory storage company – and evidence of the competition, among tech companies, to meet the AI-induced demand for processing power and storage. Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com

As a wound heals, it goes through several stages: clotting to stop bleeding, immune system response, scabbing, and scarring. A wearable device called “a-Heal,” designed by engineers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, aims to optimize each stage of the process. The system uses a tiny camera and AI to detect the stage of healing and deliver a treatment in the form of medication or an electric field. The system responds to the unique healing process of the patient, offering personalized treatment. Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com

After three years of trying to give Californians the right to know when AI is making a consequential decision about their lives and to appeal when things go wrong, Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan said she and her supporters will have to wait again, until next year. The San Ramon Democrat announced Friday that Assembly Bill 1018, which cleared the Assembly and two Senate committees, has been designated a two-year bill, meaning it can return as part of the legislative session next year. That move will allow more time for conversations with Gov. Gavin Newsom and more than 70 opponents. The decision came in the final hours of the California Legislative session, which ends today. Keep Reading This Article at CalMatters

When it comes to AI, as California goes, so goes the nation. The biggest state in the US by population is also the central hub of AI innovation for the entire globe, home to 32 of the world’s top 50 AI companies. That size and influence have given the Golden State the weight to become a regulatory trailblazer, setting the tone for the rest of the country on environmental, labor, and consumer protection regulations — and more recently, AI as well. Now, following the dramatic defeat of a proposed federal moratorium on states regulating AI in July, California policymakers see a limited window of opportunity to set the stage for the rest of the country’s AI laws. Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com