Chris Lehane has a solid gold resume in professional politics: consultant and oppo research in the Clinton White House, Press Secretary to VP Al Gore, and the source of the report on the "vast right wing conspiracy" so infamously cited by Hillary Clinton. Lehane also handles a wide array of corporate, Labor, entertainment and sports clients. Until recently he was Head of Global Policy and Public Affairs for Airbnb, and since 2024 has been VP of Global Affairs and a member of the executive team at OpenAI, a leading artificial intelligence organization based in San Francisco. Lehane joined us to talk about the opportunities and dangers of this fascinating new technology and to make the case for the importance of California maintaining its role as a global leader in AI.
Plus - who had the Worst Week in California Politics?
1:26 Capitol Weekly this week
4:53 The Top 100 is coming!
10:23 Chris Lehane
11:32 What is Open Ai?
14:25 Fastest growing internet platform
15:29 Ai to benefit humanity
16:17 Impact on jobs
17:01 Ai is going to change everything - on the level with electricity, fire and the wheel
22:24 "Building democracy in at the front end"
25:36 Educating lawmakers about Ai
28:17 Twenty percent of Californians now use Open Ai
30:01 How do legislators set up guardrails?
33:47 The "Big Beautiful Bill" precludes state Ai legislation - will it pass? Should it?
39:28 Competition between US and China
41:21 End on a high note: California is the leader in Ai
43:01 The Red Flag Law
45:45 #WWCA
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Capitol Weekly Podcast theme is "Pickin' My Way" by Eddie Lang
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