Frequently Asked Questions

The California Initiative for Technology and Democracy, also known as CITED, is a project of California Common Cause, a leading democracy reform and good government organization in California. CITED’s mission is to find state-level policy solutions to the threats that disinformation, AI, deepfakes, and other emerging technologies pose to our democracy and our elections. With bipartisan leadership and independent of industry, CITED will provide analysis and guidance divorced from partisanship and private agendas.

Disinformation and deepfakes, accelerated by AI, pose an existential threat to our democracy and elections, and as a country we are simply not ready. But while California has the opportunity and know-how to step into the leadership void left by a gridlocked Congress on this subject, Sacramento currently has no one to turn to on bills that regulate tech and social media platforms other than the tech industry's trade associations and lobbyists.

CITED will supply California policymakers, press, and public at large with the impartial expertise necessary to meet this critical moment. CITED intends to:

• Provide analysis of policy proposals from California, DC, and international actors

• Make policy recommendations and develop new state-level policy proposals

• Host events and forums on the intersection of democracy and technology

• Offer public leadership, i.e., op-eds, social media commentary, media interviews

While some think tanks and advocacy organizations do focus on AI and democracy, all of them exist at the federal/national level. CITED is the first of its kind in California or, as far as we know, centered in any state. And many of those federal efforts seek to address AI's impact on society, industry, and all parts of life; CITED is exclusively focused on the threat AI/disinformation pose to democracy.

As we all painfully know, Congress has not shown itself capable of advancing meaningful reforms to meet the challenges our democracy now faces. It falls to states like California to fill this dangerous policy void. Fortunately, California is uniquely positioned for the task. As the birthplace of key tech innovations, California and its leadership has easy access to tech expertise in crafting reforms. But our policymaking infrastructure — including the Legislature, executive branch agencies, philanthropy, and civil society — needs an unbiased and nonpartisan entity like the California Initiative for Technology and Democracy that can provide expertise and recommendations, in a way that is independent of industry but also cognizant of industry’s incentives and business models.

Policy advances in California have frequently served as a model for other states and Washington DC and, in some rare but critical cases, actually driven nationwide change because of business pressures California places on industry. As an example, vehicles sold throughout the country now come with better emissions systems because automobile manufacturers do not want to make one set of cars to meet California’s high emissions standards and another set to meet lower standards elsewhere in the nation. We hope CITED can drive similar nationwide change.

We anticipate publishing a landscape analysis and a set of policy recommendations by the end of 2023.

Not directly; legislation passed in the California state legislature in 2024 will almost certainly not be effective and implemented in time for the 2024 elections. That said, if strong reforms that would regulate social media platforms are moving toward passage in early and mid 2024, that may spur the platforms to act more decisively to stop disinformation and protect the integrity of our elections. Additionally, CITED sees part of its role as educating California voters, thought-leaders, and the press about what AI-amplified disinformation will look like in our elections, thus leading to widespread public education long before any bill becomes law.

Please consider supporting our work financially by making a donation. If you wish to partner with us, please contact us.

No. CITED receives no funding from tech companies or tech industry associations.