California lawmakers should carefully balance efforts to regulate the state’s growing AI industry with ways to support its sweeping potential for economic growth, CalChamber’s top-ranking official told a standing-room-only audience in Sacramento gathered to discuss politics and public policy.
CalChamber President and CEO Jennifer Barrera, appearing yesterday at the Politico California Policy Summit, said the Golden State is both the center of today’s global AI economy and the natural place for its future expansion.
“California is the hub of innovation,” Barrera said. “It’s in our DNA. It’s what we thrive on.”
VIDEO: Jennifer Barrera, CalChamber President & CEO, joins POLITICO’s Cally Baute to discuss how California is shaping the future of AI technology.
The event comes the same week that CalChamber has launched a far-reaching public awareness campaign urging the state’s leaders to ensure California remains the global leader in AI.
“Laws need to be flexible,” Barrera told the Politico event’s audience.
In particular, Barrera said that California’s approach to regulating AI should be “data driven and evidence based.”
Economic Impact
California is home to 32 of the world’s leading 50 AI companies. Preliminary data show 2025 is likely to be a significant milestone in AI-startups, with many of these new efforts taking root in the San Francisco Bay Area. AI entrepreneurs raised $74.6 billion in venture capital in just the first six months of the year, The Washington Post noted recently — more than triple the total amount of VC commitments over the same period in 2024
In 2023, a specific AI-related sector in California employed about 111,259 people across 3,496 establishments, paying out $24 billion in wages. That’s an average annual wage of $215,968 — far above the state average, according to an analysis by Encina Advisors.
That same analysis found that the AI sector alone generated approximately $1.86 billion in state income taxes in 2023.
California’s overall tech sector — a broader category that includes AI — accounts for $542.5 billion in direct economic impact, making up about 16.7% of the state’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to Digital Silk.
