On June 29, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a partnership with Anthropic. State, city, and county agencies will have access to the AI assistant Claude at a 50% discount.
The agreement also includes free employee training, technical support, and involvement from Anthropic developers in workflow customization.
“AI should not replace human work in government. It should assist employees in working faster, solving problems more efficiently, and achieving better outcomes for Californians,” Newsom stated.
Claude will be the first AI tool for operational tasks available to all state agencies through the California Department of Technology's SITeS portal for shared IT services. According to the governor's office, several state agencies are already using the Anthropic product for customer service, internal processes, and cybersecurity tasks, including code scanning and correction.
This agreement continues Newsom's push to integrate AI into the public sector. In 2023, he directed state agencies to explore the use of generative artificial intelligence, and in 2025, he signed an executive order aimed at improving government efficiency.
In March 2026, the governor also ordered updates to AI procurement regulations to consider civil rights, privacy, and employee risks.
Notably, on June 9, Anthropic released two versions of its Claude model family. The company described Fable 5 as a Mythos-class solution that is safe for general use, while Claude Mythos 5 is a "private" base model with relaxed restrictions in certain areas.
However, just days later, developers restricted access to the tools for foreign nationals following a directive from the U.S. government. Some media speculated that this was due to the use of the models by a group linked to China.
At the end of the month, Anthropic accused operators associated with Alibaba of distilling Claude.