This Month's Latest Tech News in Los Angeles, CA - Saturday May 31st 2025 Edition

May 2025 saw Los Angeles solidify its status as a hotbed for AI-driven innovation and mega-round funding. Local defense tech leader Chaos Industries secured $275 million in Series C funding, enhancing its advanced radar systems for unmanned aerial threat detection, while space manufacturer Apex raised $200 million to accelerate satellite production for both government and commercial clients - each reflects how the region's AI and manufacturing synergies are attracting top venture investors (largest funding rounds in Los Angeles tech companies).

On the entrepreneurial front, SimpleClosure's $15 million AI-powered solution is streamlining complex startup shutdowns, supporting over 1,500 founders amid a competitive market.

As CEO Dori Yona notes,

“The reality is that 90% of startups don't make it... we're here to help them do it the right way.”

This surge brings broad opportunity for aspiring tech professionals; discover more about LA's dynamic startup deals in top May 2025 startup deals reshaping industries in Los Angeles, and browse a comprehensive latest list of newly funded AI startups for an inside view on the accelerating transformation driving LA's economy forward.

California has introduced a groundbreaking AI-powered permitting tool to accelerate fire recovery across Los Angeles, offering hope to residents displaced by January's Eaton and Palisades wildfires.

Developed by Archistar and provided free through a partnership with LA Rises, Steadfast LA, Autodesk, and Amazon, the software uses machine learning and computer vision to instantly check building plans for compliance with local zoning and safety codes, transforming what was once a process that could take weeks or months into one completed in hours or days.

Governor Gavin Newsom emphasized the urgency of the effort:

“The current pace of issuing permits locally is not meeting the magnitude of the challenge we face. To help boost local progress, California is partnering with the tech sector and community leaders to give local governments more tools to rebuild faster and more effectively.”

This public-private collaboration expedites rebuilding for over 16,000 lost homes, reduces administrative delays, and allows property owners to pre-validate their designs, with over 200 applications already processed in some affected areas.

The technology is being rapidly adopted in more than 25 municipalities worldwide, and early results show L.A.'s rebuilding application reviews happening twice as fast post-fire.

As Rick Caruso, chairman of Steadfast LA, noted,

“Bringing AI into permitting will allow us to rebuild faster and safer, reducing costs and turning a process that can take weeks and months into one that can happen in hours or days.”

For more on how this AI initiative is reshaping disaster response, see the official Governor Newsom announcement, insights from Forbes' coverage of the AI-driven fast-tracking permits, and detailed analysis by the Los Angeles Times on technology and wildfire recovery.

California is setting a new standard in government efficiency by launching pioneering generative AI (GenAI) projects, leveraging partnerships with tech giants to transform core public services.

Governor Gavin Newsom recently announced three key initiatives: using GenAI to analyze and reduce highway congestion, enhance roadway safety, and streamline customer service at state agencies.

These collaborations enlist technology from Accenture, Deloitte's Gemini GenAI, Microsoft's Azure OpenAI, and Anthropic's Claude, all piloted in safe, sandboxed environments with strong human oversight and robust evaluation measures.

Notably, SymSoft Solutions' Axyom Assist is already reducing average customer inquiry handling times at the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, supporting over 800,000 taxpayer contacts annually.

California's approach, which includes symbolic $1 vendor contracts for six months of rigorous testing, ensures responsible AI integration without compromising staff roles, as emphasized by Governor Newsom's commitment to “augment, not replace, the state workforce.” The suite of projects covers a range of benefits, from predictive traffic management to accelerated healthcare facility inspections, with stakeholders emphasizing transparency, public safety, and purpose-driven public sector transformation.

As summarized by Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin,

“With an average of 12 Californians dying on our roadways every day, we need to use every tool available to end the roadway crisis and reach our goal of zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2050.”

For more insight on these groundbreaking efforts, explore this detailed report on Governor Newsom's deployment of first-in-the-nation GenAI technologies to improve state government efficiency, learn about California's multi-vendor GenAI pilot projects tackling traffic and health care challenges, and see how SymSoft Solutions is powering tangible improvements in citizen services in California across the state.

Legislative watchdogs are urging California to proceed with caution amid a rapid push to integrate generative AI into public sector decision-making, raising concerns over transparency, oversight, and public accountability.

The state's latest report claims that nearly 200 agencies reported no use of “high-risk” automated systems - even as algorithms are known to influence major decisions in areas such as criminal justice and unemployment benefits.

Critics, including UC Berkeley's Deirdre Mulligan, found this befuddling, given ongoing use of risk-scoring tools and predictive denial of benefits. Lawmakers are pressing for new bills and regulatory frameworks to ensure meaningful assessments and human oversight, especially as the Project Delivery Lifecycle (PDL) fast-tracks government AI adoption with insufficient evaluation, according to the Legislative Analyst's Office.

As California's approach draws national attention, a proposed federal moratorium threatens to block enforcement of more than 20 state AI laws, which alarms privacy advocates and legislators alike who warn against rolling back protections just as “AI is getting integrated into an ever-wider range of tools, including social media, online child protections, and automated decision-making privacy laws.”

“If you asked an everyday Californian if losing their unemployment benefits at Christmas time when they have no job caused a real risk to their livelihood, I bet they'd say yes.”

For an in-depth analysis of the watchdog report and agencies' conflicting claims, read this CalMatters investigation of AI risks in California government; explore the legislative debate over federal preemption of state AI laws in CalMatters' coverage on Congress advancing bills to block California regulation; and see the latest fiscal and transparency hurdles affecting new AI legislation in Transparency Coalition's May 2025 AI legislative update.

Los Angeles Metro's rapid deployment of AI-powered enforcement cameras has led to a dramatic surge in citations for vehicles illegally blocking bus lanes, transforming traffic dynamics on several of the city's busiest transit corridors.

Since ticketing began in mid-February 2025, nearly 10,000 citations - each carrying a $293 fine - have been issued, far outpacing the pre-AI average of around 570 tickets per month and signaling a new era of automated traffic enforcement.

The Hayden AI technology, now installed on Metro and Culver City buses serving lines like Wilshire Boulevard, La Brea Avenue, Olive Street, and the J Line, scans for violations, automatically captures evidence, and routes each case to a human reviewer before a citation is mailed.

The program's goals focus on reducing delays, improving bus reliability, and protecting rider safety, while privacy is maintained by recording only when violations occur.

As Janice Hahn, Metro Board Chair, emphasized,

“Without enforcement, a single parked car in a bus lane can delay dozens or even hundreds of riders.”

Similar bus-mounted AI enforcement programs are underway in Culver City and metropolitan regions like New York and Washington, D.C., where notable gains in bus speeds and declines in collisions have been reported.

The table below summarizes LA Metro's citation statistics since implementation:

To learn more, see the Los Angeles Times in-depth analysis of AI enforcement cameras, LAist's coverage of LA Metro's Bus Lane Enforcement Program, and Streetsblog's report on the expansion of automated ticketing in downtown Los Angeles.

This month, California's privacy regulator significantly scaled back its proposed rules for artificial intelligence, narrowing the scope of automated decision-making technology (ADMT) regulations following sustained pressure from major tech industry groups, lawmakers, and Governor Newsom.

The updated draft restricts ADMT oversight to systems that "replace or substantially replace human decision-making" in matters like housing, employment, and credit, while notably exempting technologies that support human decisions and explicitly excluding behavioral advertising from new requirements.

These changes mean an estimated 90% of businesses previously covered will no longer be subject to compliance, and the first-year cost burden has dropped from $834 million to $143 million.

The revised framework also grants companies more leeway and extended timeframes for cybersecurity audits, as outlined in the Eye on Privacy's detailed summary of the regulatory rollback.

Privacy advocates have voiced alarm over these concessions, with the Electronic Privacy Information Center warning,

“Strong rules are essential to ensure that Californians are protected from the well-documented harms to privacy and civil rights caused by the unchecked use of automated decisionmaking technologies.”

“Watering down its proposed rules to benefit Big Tech does nothing to achieve [data privacy] goals.” as echoed by the Tech Oversight Project in coverage by CalMatters' investigation of legislative and industry influence.

The finalized rules, open for public comment until June 2, reflect a pivotal shift in California's balance between innovation and consumer rights, a transition tracked directly by the California Privacy Protection Agency's official updates.

California's recent state report alleging that nearly 200 agencies do not use “high-risk” AI systems has triggered skepticism from experts and lawmakers, especially as evidence mounts of existing automated tools affecting criminal justice and public benefits decisions.

According to CalMatters' detailed analysis of the state's AI risk survey, agencies like the Department of Corrections rely on recidivism algorithms, and the Employment Development Department notoriously denied hundreds of thousands of unemployment benefits using predictive models - yet both reported no high-risk AI usage.

Critics argue the state's self-reporting approach lacks transparency and undercuts accountability. As one official admitted,

“I only know what they report back up to us, because even if they have the contract… we don't know how or if they're using it, so we rely on those departments to accurately report that information up.”

Amid growing pressure, the California Civil Rights Council has advanced robust regulations that will soon mandate anti-bias testing, strict recordkeeping, and require human oversight in employment decisions involving AI, aiming to fill these transparency gaps (new AI employment discrimination rules).

Meanwhile, the legislature is weighing expansive AI transparency and safety laws, further reflecting the state's ongoing debate over how to draw the line between innovation and public safeguard (May 2025 AI legislative update).

Google is making waves in Hollywood with its "AI on Screen" initiative, partnering with Range Media Partners to fund a series of short films that aim to offer a more nuanced perspective on artificial intelligence than the typical dystopian narratives.

The project's first releases, "Sweetwater" - about a man encountering a startling AI linked to his late celebrity mother - and "Lucid," a tale of a couple risking everything to share a dream through technology, will debut later this year with potential expansion into full-length features.

This collaboration intentionally avoids product placement and instead provides filmmakers with access to Google's AI experts to ensure realism, reflecting the company's broader goal to influence public opinion amid ongoing industry debates about AI's role in content creation, intellectual property, and labor.

Recent surveys reveal that 56% of Americans view AI as causing an "equal amount of harm and good," while 31% perceive "more harm than good," highlighting the importance of balanced stories in shaping perceptions.

As Mira Lane, Google's VP of Technology and Society, put it:

“Narratives about technology in films are overwhelmingly characterized by a dystopian perspective... How might we tell more deeply human stories?... What does it look like to coexist?”

For more details on this cultural shift, explore the in-depth feature from the Los Angeles Times' coverage of Google's Hollywood AI partnerships, learn about Google's broader production ambitions on Business Insider's deep dive into ‘100 Zeros' and brand storytelling strategy, and see Google's official announcement and vision on their AI on Screen program blog.

Chanel is making a landmark investment in arts and technology by establishing the Chanel Center for Artists and Technology at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Santa Clarita, set to open this fall.

Funded through a five-year gift from the Chanel Culture Fund, the Center will give CalArts students, faculty, and artist fellows - some drawn from Chanel's global cultural network - access to state-of-the-art equipment, AI and machine learning tools, and supportive mentorship for creative research and experimentation.

Annual public forums will showcase insights from this collaboration, with the Center aiming to bridge contemporary artistry with emerging technological innovation.

Notably, this is among the largest corporate partnerships in CalArts history. As CalArts President Ravi S. Rajan stated,

"The Chanel Center for Artists and Technology at CalArts makes real an endeavor that's long been in our dreams... at CalArts, we recognize that throughout history and across cultures, it's the artists who consistently lead us toward a more imaginative, compelling, and just future."

The Center will also foster partnerships with local and international institutions and offer graduate fellowships and technologist-in-residence positions.

This initiative, described by Chanel's Yana Peel as helping artists "take human imagination further than ever before," positions CalArts as a pioneering hub for the future of art and AI. For further details, visit the in-depth announcement at Artnet's report on Chanel's high-tech arts center at CalArts, the official coverage on ARTnews's coverage of the CalArts Chanel Center for Artists and Technology, and insights from Ocula Magazine's overview of the AI-focused initiative at CalArts.

The University of Southern California (USC) has announced the creation of the $12 million Institute on Ethics & Trust in Computing, marking a significant investment in responsible artificial intelligence research and education.

Backed by the Lord Foundation of California as part of USC President Carol Folt's $1 billion "Frontiers of Computing" initiative, the institute aims to advance ethical standards in AI by uniting faculty in philosophy, humanities, and computer science to tackle issues of trust, safety, and accountability in computing.

Led by Shrikanth Narayanan, Yan Liu, and John Hawthorne, the institute will develop curriculum, research, and regional tech partnerships designed to equip graduates with the tools to address real-world ethical challenges in AI-driven fields.

As highlighted in USC's official announcement about the Institute on Ethics & Trust in Computing, this effort extends the university's mission to foster responsible technological innovation and create new opportunities for its students.

Other higher education leaders - such as those at Miami University, UC Irvine, and UC San Diego - echo USC's call for ethical, interdisciplinary approaches in AI, underscoring the need for educational institutions to integrate ethical reasoning, address bias, and promote privacy across their AI programs, as detailed in a recent analysis of the rise of ethical AI in U.S. higher education.

Funding from organizations like Penn State's Page Center, Notre Dame, and West Virginia University further reinforces the collaborative landscape of AI ethics research.

For more on how USC's new institute fits into broader university advancements and the local tech scene, visit the USC Dornsife news portal on ethical AI initiatives.

California's tech sector is experiencing a substantial workforce transformation in 2025, underscoring a strategic pivot toward artificial intelligence investments.

According to state filings and industry reports, leading companies like LinkedIn, Microsoft, HP, and Chegg have announced significant job cuts - just in the first quarter, California technology firms disclosed 17,874 layoffs, reflecting a broader pattern powered by AI automation and restructuring in Silicon Valley's evolving employment landscape.

The integration of AI now automates up to 30% of Microsoft's code contributions and has led to 281 jobs cut at LinkedIn in California, with roles most affected including software engineers, product managers, and machine learning specialists.

Recent research confirms these trends: Big Tech companies reduced hiring of new graduates by 25% in 2024, and the CEO of Anthropic warns that

“AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within five years,”

urging regulators to keep pace with rapid technological advancements as AI disrupts the labor market.

Meanwhile, the overall impact for 2025 is striking - with 76,440 tech jobs already eliminated by AI automation across 326 layoff events, or 513 jobs lost daily according to layoff data tracked by Final Round AI.

Policymakers, economists, and tech executives are calling for robust retraining and upskilling initiatives to help workers transition to a workforce increasingly driven by AI innovation.

The table below summarizes the key layoff data driving this industry pivot:

“AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within five years.” - Dario Amodei, CEO, Anthropic

Los Angeles sits at the forefront of the nation's efforts to shape responsible and innovative AI, but recent federal moves - such as a proposed 10-year moratorium on state AI laws - threaten to halt its progress and that of broader California.

State lawmakers have enacted comprehensive regulations targeting automated hiring tools, deepfake election content, and algorithmic discrimination, reflecting California's leadership with 22 new AI-related laws as noted in the analysis on California lawmakers pushing back on the federal AI regulation ban.

New protections, like Senate Bill 7's “No Robo Bosses Act,” mandate human oversight, notice, bias audits, and legal redress for AI-driven employment decisions, while the California Civil Rights Council's final rules impose rigorous record-keeping and vendor liability, effective as early as July 1, 2025, detailed in a 2025 year-to-date review of AI and employment law in California.

However, a federal bill would override all such state efforts, prompting bipartisan resistance and urgent calls to preserve California's ability to protect residents from algorithmic harms, as seen in this CalMatters investigation into the state AI regulation moratorium.

As one coalition letter warns,

“The proposed moratorium… jeopardizes the safety and rights of American citizens, fails to uphold the United States' legacy of fostering innovation through responsible regulation, and undermines state sovereignty... States must retain their constitutional authority to protect their citizens from AI-related harms.”

The clash over regulation spotlights Los Angeles as a high-stakes testing ground for both AI innovation and accountability in 2025, with future outcomes likely to influence national and global standards.