California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) claimed Tuesday that he is doing “DOGE but better” as he announced that his state would adopt three new artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives to make state government more efficient.
The state has suffered massive deficits in recent year, and had to borrow over $6 billion last month to keep its Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, afloat. Yet Newsom claims he is running a more efficient operation than Elon Musk could produce at the federal level through his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuty.
Newsom made his remarks at a press conference in which he announced that California would use AI tools to improve government operations. He did not announce any staff cuts or spending reductions, much less tax cuts, in line with that purported efficiency.
The governor, known for his Hollywood hair and teeth, and his penchant for empty gestures and podcasts, took swipes at Musk: “He wants the theatrics, the performative side.”
He claimed that DOGE had been “very damaging” in the way it had cut federal spending, and taunted Musk for failing, thus far, to reach trillion-dollar targets for cutting spending.
“We’re DOGE but better,” Newsom said. “And we’ve been DOGE but better for literally six years.”
His proposed 2025 budget is $322 billion, up from his first proposed budget in 2019 of $209 billion, so it was unclear where the efficiencies were.
He claimed that his state’s use of AI was not a response to DOGE, but that it had been in the works for six weeks. He cited the creation of an AI tool to speed up rebuilding permits in the fire-ravaged communities of Los Angeles. He also announced the use of AI to improve traffic congestion and government customer service.
The creating of AI tools for permitting was driven by developer Rick Caruso and his nonprofit organization. Caruso acknowledged Newsom’s support in pushing the city and county government to adopt the tools; the governor did not return the favor in his own announcement by acknowledging Caruso’s role.
Newsom and tech executives also claimed they were using AI to improve public engagement by summarizing people’s ideas. It was not clear how that led to results in a state in which Democrats hold a supermajority and use it to block Republican ideas, or even dissident Democrat ideas. As Newsom spoke, for example, his party was blocking an effort in the legislature to make the sex trafficking of minors aged 16 and 17 a felony.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
