About CITED
California urgently needs a source of impartial research, analysis, policy recommendations, and public leadership on the emerging digital threats facing our democracy. The California Initiative for Technology and Democracy, a project of California Common Cause, is stepping into that void.
OUR MISSION
The California Initiative for Technology and Democracy seeks state-level solutions to the threats that disinformation, AI, deepfakes, and other emerging technologies pose to our democracy and our elections.
Our Approach
CITED is intentionally cross-disciplinary. To ensure our solutions are both impactful and implementable, we have brought to our work leaders from civil rights and civic engagement, law and public policy, industry and tech, and more. Our advisors include a former Democratic leader and a former Republic leader of the State Legislature, former civic trust and integrity executives from the nation’s largest social media platforms, leading academics studying cybersecurity and digital threats, and many others.
CITED recognizes that a challenge this enormous requires multiple strategies employed simultaneously. In addition to leading a legislative strategy in 2024, CITED intends to provide active public leadership and strategic communications throughout the election cycle around use of AI and deepfakes in the public debate. CITED will also do mass communications and voter education, host events to raise the visibility of these issues, and work in coalition with civil rights, civic engagement, GOTV, and powerbuilding partners.
Staff
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Drew Liebert
INITIATIVE DIRECTOR
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Leora Gershenzon
POLICY DIRECTOR
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Mariko Yoshihara
SENIOR POLICY ADVOCATE
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Ama Anane
SENIOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT MANAGER
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David Evan Harris
SENIOR POLICY ADVISOR
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Ken Wang
SENIOR POLICY ADVOCATE
Board of Directors
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Jonathan Mehta Stein
CHAIR
Executive Director, California Common Cause
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Sam Blakeslee, Ph.D.
Minority Leader Emeritus, California State Assembly; Former State Senator
Founding Director, Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy, Cal Poly SLO
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Yosef Getachew
Senior Policy Counsel, Reset.Tech
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Laura Mather
Cybersecurity CEO and Founder
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Mindy Romero, Ph.D.
Founder and Director, Center for Inclusive Democracy, USC
Chair, California Common Cause
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Bill Wong
Author, Campaign Strategist
Initiative Co-Founders
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Steven Berger
CEO, Investor, Director, Advisor
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Drew Liebert
Former Chief Counsel, California State Assembly
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Jonathan Mehta Stein
Executive Director, California Common Cause
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Christian Storm, Ph.D
Co-Founder, Acadly and Turnitin
Tech and Scholars Advisory Council
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Steven Berger
CEO, Investor, Director, Advisor
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Stan Bunger
Morning News Anchor Emeritus, KCBS Radio; Technology Journalist
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Prof. Hany Farid
UC Berkeley, Joint Appointment, Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences and School of Information
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Ella Irwin
Senior VP for Integrity, Stability.AI; Former Senior Consumer Trust Executive, Google, Amazon, Twitter
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Laura Mather
Cybersecurity CEO and Founder
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Prof. Andrew Reddie
Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley; Founder, Berkeley Risk and Security Lab
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Smita Rajmohan
Senior Counsel for AI Platform, Autodesk; Former Apple, UN Women USA
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Kyle Roche
Founder and CEO, Griptape; Former Head of Immersive Technology, Amazon
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Prof. Mindy Romero
Director, Center for Inclusive Democracy, USC; Chair, California Common Cause
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Brandon Silverman
Former CEO and Co-Founder, CrowdTangle; Knight Fellow, Institute for Democracy, Data and Politics at George Washington University
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Christian Storm, Ph.D
Co-Founder, Acadly and Turnitin
Politics and Public Policy Advisory Council
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Sam Blakeslee, Ph.D
Minority Leader Emeritus, California State Assembly; Former State Senator; Founding Director, Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy, Cal Poly SLO
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Angelo Carusone
Chairman and President, Media Matters
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Bob Epstein
Entrepreneur, Engineer, Founder, and Executive; Co-Founder, Project 2030
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Yosef Getachew
Senior Policy Counsel, Reset Tech
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Samantha Gordon
Chief Programs Officer, TechEquity Collaborative
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Paul Hefner
Principal, Hefner Communications
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Bill Monning
Majority Leader Emeritus, California State Senate; Attorney and Professor
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Jinxia Niu
Author; Disinformation Analyst; Program Manager for Digital Engagement, Chinese for Affirmative Action
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Prof. Mindy Romero
Director, Center for Inclusive Democracy, USC; Chair, California Common Cause
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Angelica Salceda
Director, Democracy and Civic Engagement Program, ACLU of Northern California
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Jonathan Mehta Stein
Executive Director, California Common Cause
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Mitchel Winick
Dean, Monterey College of Law
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Bill Wong
Author, Campaign Strategist