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

May 2025 has proven both turbulent and transformative for San Francisco's tech scene, as mass layoffs reverberate across the Bay Area alongside landmark advances in artificial intelligence and stringent regulatory shifts.

More than 22,000 tech workers have lost their jobs so far this year, with major employers like Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Amazon attributing reductions to automation and AI-centric restructuring (TechCrunch's comprehensive tech layoff tracker for 2025).

Entry-level opportunities have been particularly hard hit, with hiring of new college grads by leading tech companies falling over 50% since 2019 and employers increasingly seeking candidates with advanced technical skills or experience navigating AI-integrated workflows (SF Standard's analysis of declining entry-level hiring trends).

Meanwhile, California's new wave of AI regulation - 18 laws effective in 2025 alone - targets transparency, deepfakes, data privacy, worker protection, and responsible innovation, positioning the state as the blueprint for future U.S. AI oversight (Chambers' detailed AI 2025 legal review for California).

As the city recalibrates amid uncertainty, tech professionals are urged to upskill in areas like AI, cybersecurity, and cloud to stay ahead of rapid workforce changes.

Salesforce has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Informatica for $8 billion in cash, marking its boldest move yet in the AI and enterprise data management landscape.

By integrating Informatica's renowned strengths - data catalog, metadata management, governance, and Master Data Management - across its portfolio, Salesforce aims to address critical challenges of AI at scale, especially transparency, traceability, and regulatory compliance.

Informatica's cloud-native capabilities will be embedded into Salesforce's Agentforce autonomous AI platform, Data Cloud, MuleSoft, Tableau, and Customer 360, creating a unified foundation for “trusted, explainable, and built-to-scale” AI. As AI Magazine reports, the acquisition is especially significant for regulated industries like healthcare and finance that require robust data lineage and auditability.

“This is a transformational step in delivering enterprise-grade AI that is safe, responsible, and deeply integrated with the world's data,”

said Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO. While BARC's market analysis identifies challenges around integration complexity and vendor neutrality, it highlights immediate benefits in AI analytics, CRM migrations, and regulatory readiness for over 5,000 Informatica enterprise clients.

Notably, Informatica shareholders will receive $25 per share, a 30% premium over the pre-announcement price, with the deal expected to close early in Salesforce's 2027 fiscal year.

For a deeper breakdown of the strategic rationale and enterprise implications, see the official announcement from the Salesforce Newsroom.

Company	Acquisition Price	Clients	Main Capabilities Integrated
Informatica	$8 billion	5,000+ (Mostly Enterprise)	Data Catalog, Governance, Metadata, MDM
Salesforce	N/A	150,000+ (Varied)	CRM, Agentic AI, Unified Platform

This month, Dario Amodei, CEO of leading AI firm Anthropic, warned that artificial intelligence could eliminate up to 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs in the next one to five years, pushing U.S. unemployment to 10–20% - levels not seen since the Great Recession.

Amodei asserts that technology, finance, law, and consulting are particularly vulnerable industries, with AI agents powered by large language models rapidly supplanting routine, knowledge-based tasks such as coding, customer support, and research.

This shift is already reflected in workforce data: Big Tech hiring of new graduates dropped by 25% from 2023, Microsoft cut 6,000 jobs in 2024, and 41% of executives now plan staff reductions due to AI. Amodei stressed,

“Most of them are unaware that this is about to happen. It sounds crazy, and people just don't believe it. … We, as the producers of this technology, have a duty and an obligation to be honest about what is coming.”

While some, like Mark Cuban, contend that new jobs will eventually emerge, Amodei and others call for urgent action: increased public awareness, legislative preparedness, reskilling programs, and policies such as a “token tax” on AI revenues to support displaced workers.

For a breakdown of recent hiring trends and unemployment data, see the table below. As Amodei concludes,

“You can't just step in front of the train and stop it... The only move that's going to work is steering the train - steer it 10 degrees in a different direction from where it was going.”

Read more in the original reporting at Axios's analysis of the coming white-collar ‘job apocalypse', Business Insider's deep dive on AI's impact on the entry-level workforce, and Medium's summary of industry data and adaptation strategies.

Data Point	Value
Entry-level jobs at risk due to AI	Up to 50% (1–5 years)
Potential U.S. unemployment spike	10–20%
Tech hiring drop for new grads (2024)	25%
Executives planning workforce cuts (2025 WEF report)	41%
Percentage of Microsoft code written by AI	30%

Tech layoffs in the Bay Area surged through spring 2025, driven by a sweeping shift toward AI investment and a tough macroeconomic climate. According to TechCrunch's comprehensive tracker of layoffs, more than 22,000 tech jobs were slashed in the first five months of 2025, with May and April alone accounting for over 39,000 cuts from giants like Microsoft, Amazon, Autodesk, Meta, and Intel.

Companies increasingly cited the need to reallocate resources toward artificial intelligence and automation as a decisive factor behind these reductions. Intel, for example, announced plans to trim its workforce by over 20%, while Meta and Google targeted their tech and cloud divisions with significant layoffs.

The industry-wide impact is underscored by firsthand accounts reported by the Los Angeles Times, illustrating how even high performers and long-term employees faced unexpected pink slips, and revealing a culture shift as companies prioritize new skills over traditional tech expertise.

As noted by industry analyses, over 100,000 tech jobs have been cut globally this year, sparking calls for large-scale reskilling programs, career pivots, and new regulations to mitigate social and economic fallout.

The following table highlights major reductions in 2025:

Company	Layoffs	Main Cause
Intel	>20% workforce	AI/automation focus, restructuring
Autodesk	1,350 (9%)	Sales shift, AI investment
Meta	~3,600 (5%)	Efficiency, AI product focus
Microsoft	6,500+	Cost-cutting, AI role prioritization

“AI is not going to replace people, but people who use AI will replace people who don't.” - Satya Nadella

For more data and a detailed breakdown on this shifting landscape, see OpenTools' 2025 layoff analysis and market table.

San Francisco's commercial real estate market is experiencing a notable rebound, largely driven by the rapid expansion of AI startups who are on track to lease up to 16 million square feet of office space by 2030, averaging 2.7 million square feet annually.

This surge is reshaping the city's post-pandemic office landscape, as AI firms - backed by $103 billion in venture capital since 2020 - continue to reduce record-high vacancy rates, which stood at 35.8% in early 2025.

Major names like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Databricks have collectively leased millions of square feet and are expanding their San Francisco teams, reinforcing the city's position as a global AI hub.

Key leasing deals, such as Rippling's 123,000-square-foot headquarters and Tools for Humanity's full-building lease, reflect the strong demand for prime office locations.

The following table outlines market trends:

Year/Projection	SF Office Vacancy Rate	AI-Leased Office Space (cumulative)	Venture Capital to SF AI ($B)
Q1 2025	35.8%	5 million sq ft	103
2030 (projected)	16%	21 million sq ft	N/A

“Most of these AI companies are in the office four, five or six days of the week, and, like the mobile and app economy companies pre-pandemic, will have an impact and draw more people to the office on a regular basis. This will create more of an office culture and bring more people into Downtown.” - Colin Yasukochi, CBRE

Read more about how AI firms are fueling San Francisco's office market revival, view the full VC and leasing analysis from GlobeSt's market projections, and explore recent downtown leasing details from the Los Angeles Times' report on San Francisco's office space rebound.

Salesforce's Agentforce AI platform has rapidly surpassed 8,000 enterprise clients in just eight months since its Dreamforce 2024 debut, signifying a transformative shift toward digital labor across business functions in San Francisco and beyond.

The surge in adoption is fueled by Agentforce's robust, autonomous AI agents capable of planning, reasoning, and executing complex workflows - powering up to 2 billion predictions monthly for enterprises like Bouygues Telecom, OpenTable, and Indeed.

A key catalyst for this expansion is Salesforce's introduction of flexible Agentforce pricing, with consumption-based “Flex Credits” that allow organizations to pay only for AI actions performed, rather than fixed conversational rates.

This model aligns AI investment directly with business value and supports cost control, as highlighted by Elia Wallen, CEO of Engine, who stated:

“Salesforce's new flexible pricing model allows us to use AI agents for different types of use cases far beyond customer service and traditional CRM, aligning costs directly with business value.”

Strengthened by a growing array of industry-specific agents and a focus on secure, compliant deployments, Agentforce's customer roster and recurring revenue are accelerating past expectations, as detailed in Salesforce's engineering blog.

Early customer wins underscore the value of deeply unified customer data, customizable agent templates, and seamless integration across the Salesforce ecosystem.

For further insights on real-world deployments and recent advancements, including Agentforce's momentum with major global brands, see Salesforce's official news updates.

California is accelerating its adoption of generative AI tools across state government, deploying groundbreaking initiatives to boost efficiency in public services.

Led by Governor Gavin Newsom and guided by an executive order, the state has launched new pilot projects targeting traffic management, roadway safety, and customer service.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is leveraging Microsoft's Azure OpenAI platform and Accenture's expertise to analyze vast real-time and historical traffic data - improving incident detection and reducing congestion - while Deloitte's Gemini GenAI enhances safety analytics, focusing on vulnerable road users.

Meanwhile, the Department of Tax and Fee Administration utilizes Anthropic's Claude AI through SymSoft Solutions to expedite responses for taxpayer inquiries, minimizing call center strain during busy filing periods.

State leaders emphasize both innovation and oversight, with expanded safeguards addressing digital privacy and algorithmic risks, and continued legislative debate over the definition and regulation of “high-risk” AI systems.

Notably, a detailed summary from MeriTalkSLG on California's government AI deployments presents the technical specifications and early outcomes of these deployments.

Still, watchdogs spotlight challenges, such as the discrepancy between agency self-reporting and evidence of sensitive automated systems, as highlighted in analysis from CalMatters' report on California AI risk findings.

With California housing 32 of the world's top 50 AI companies and partnering in high-profile industry collaborations, the Golden State's rapid AI rollout positions it as a national leader in digital government, as further detailed in the official Governor's GenAI announcement and initiatives.

The following table summarizes the major GenAI deployments:

Agency	AI Solution	Purpose	Key Benefit
Caltrans	Azure OpenAI (Microsoft, Accenture)	Traffic data analysis	Reduces congestion, improves safety
Caltrans	Gemini GenAI (Deloitte)	Roadway injury/fatality analysis	Recommends safety upgrades
CDTFA	Claude AI (Anthropic, SymSoft)	Call center assistance	Quicker taxpayer support

San Francisco's office market is witnessing a pivotal turnaround in 2025, sparked by explosive growth in the artificial intelligence sector. AI companies have leased more than 5 million square feet of space over the past five years, accounting for roughly 25% of new leases citywide, and projections indicate up to 16 million square feet could be absorbed by AI firms by 2030 - potentially reducing the city's record 35.8% office vacancy rate to 16% within five years.

This surge is driven by an influx of nearly $103 billion in venture capital funding for San Francisco-based AI startups since 2020, outpacing previous tech booms, and is supported by notable expansions from heavyweights like OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI; as reported by CBRE, OpenAI alone expanded by 315,000 square feet in Mission Bay and signed San Francisco's largest 2023 office lease at 1 million square feet.

Still, the revival is tempered by ongoing remote work trends and automation-driven efficiencies, meaning not all excess space will be absorbed, and the broader success of the recovery depends on additional job growth outside the AI sector.

As Karen Chapple, Director of the University of Toronto's School of Cities, puts it,

“AI is so hot and SF is the headquarters. It's the dot-com boom all over again.”

For deeper insights into the data and shifting demand patterns, see the detailed CBRE analysis of AI's impact on office space demand, The Frisc's exploration of how young AI and legacy tech firms are key to office market revival, and the latest San Francisco Bay Area Office Market Q1 2025 report by Colliers.

In a landmark move for both the nuclear and technology sectors, Pacific Gas & Electric's Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant has become the first in the U.S. to deploy on-site generative AI, aiming to modernize regulatory compliance and operational efficiency.

The plant is rolling out Atomic Canyon's Neutron Enterprise solution, powered by locally installed NVIDIA H100 GPUs, to tackle the enormous challenge of navigating billions of pages of technical documentation - an effort previously consuming about 15,000 staff hours annually.

As described by PG&E Vice President Maureen Zawalick,

“Atomic Canyon's AI solutions will enable faster data retrieval, boosting collaboration and ensuring continued safe, but more efficient operations. Accessing critical information in seconds will let us focus on what truly matters - delivering reliable clean energy safely and affordably.”

Neutron Enterprise utilizes sophisticated AI models co-developed with the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and leverages features such as optical character recognition and retrieval-augmented generation to transform document search from hours to seconds.

As Diablo Canyon continues to supply nearly 9% of California's electricity and 17% of its zero-carbon energy, this partnership reflects nuclear energy's growing reliance on cutting-edge software for safe, sustainable operations.

However, the implementation is not without concerns: lawmakers and independent experts have called for strict oversight, emphasizing the need for robust safeguards as AI usage expands.

For further insights into this innovative deployment, see the comprehensive report at CalMatters article on the first U.S. nuclear plant to use AI at Diablo Canyon, technical analysis from Power Engineering's coverage of PG&E deploying nuclear-specific AI at Diablo Canyon, and official industry coverage at World Nuclear News report on AI solution deployed at Diablo Canyon.

The San Francisco Bay Area is rapidly emerging as a national leader in AI law and legal education, propelled by UC Law San Francisco's innovative programs and strategic proximity to top tech companies.

This July, UC Law SF will launch its inaugural Law and Artificial Intelligence Program, a five-day intensive designed to equip lawyers and policymakers with the knowledge needed to address pressing issues - from generative AI licensing and risk assessment to data governance and intellectual property.

The program benefits from faculty who are leading practitioners at organizations like Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta, and Microsoft. UC Law SF also offers a robust Technology Law and Lawyering Concentration, updated for the evolving landscape of AI governance; students gain direct exposure through clinics, externships, and weekly industry roundtables with legal thinkers from companies including GitHub and Cloudflare.

Course offerings cover privacy law, algorithmic accountability, and the legal frameworks regulating emerging digital tech, preparing graduates to navigate the fast-moving intersection of law and artificial intelligence.

As Director of LexLab Drew Amerson put it:

“We're training lawyers who can advise on licensing large language models, assess AI risk disclosures, and negotiate data governance agreements. These are the issues clients are facing right now.”

For legal professionals looking to deepen their expertise, UC Berkeley also offers a highly accessible Generative AI for the Legal Profession crash course, further reinforcing the Bay Area's role as the destination for cutting-edge AI and law education.

The table below summarizes notable offerings in AI law from area institutions:

Institution	Program	Highlights
UC Law SF	Law & Artificial Intelligence Program	Workshops, global faculty, real-world policy focus
UC Law SF	Tech Law Concentration	Externships, innovative curriculum, industry partnerships
UC Berkeley	Generative AI for the Legal Profession	Self-paced, practical, ethics-focused training

Ashmita Kumar, an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, is pioneering AI-driven healthcare with her startup Code Blue, which uses the cameras and microphones on everyday devices - like smartphones, laptops, and smart TVs - to detect early symptoms of stroke in real time.

The technology analyzes speech and facial expressions every 30 seconds, alerting users and automatically contacting emergency services if it recognizes warning signs such as slurred speech or altered facial expressions.

Privacy is central: images and audio are never stored, only briefly processed before immediate deletion. Motivated by personal family experiences and collaborating with UCSF doctors, Kumar has advanced Code Blue to an active clinical pilot and is seeking FDA approval for broader use.

She recently showcased the innovation at the Atlantic Coast Conference InVenture Prize competition, where it drew national attention for its potential to revolutionize emergency response and save lives.

As Darren Cooke, UC Berkeley's interim chief innovation and entrepreneurship officer, remarked,

“Ashmita's work is a great example of Berkeley students using technology and innovation for the greater good.”

For a comprehensive profile of Code Blue's journey and technology, read Berkeley News' feature on AI stroke detection innovation (AI-powered stroke detection startup at UC Berkeley), explore details on the clinical partnership with UCSF (pilot collaboration with UCSF featured by Local News Matters), and review event coverage on Code Blue's competition entry (UC Berkeley undergrad enters AI stroke-detection startup in competition).

The fusion of AI, mobile tech, and clinical science at UC Berkeley highlights the Bay Area's critical role in harnessing digital innovation for public health.

San Francisco stands at the epicenter of the rapidly evolving AI revolution, cementing its status as the premier hub for both innovation and regulatory engagement.

The Bay Area has attracted an unprecedented 73% of North America's AI venture funding in the past year, driving a concentration of world-leading companies and research institutions that is unmatched elsewhere.

As detailed in the recent Crunchbase AI funding report, California is home to 32 of the world's top 50 AI companies and continues to set the pace in responsible AI deployment amid growing global competition.

The state's proactive, sometimes contentious, approach to AI regulation was outlined in a new working report commissioned by Governor Newsom and top academics, who emphasize balancing innovation with safety, transparency, and public benefit.

“The future happens in California first – including the development of powerful AI technology. As home to over half of the world's top AI companies, our state carries a unique responsibility in leading the safe advancement of this industry in a way that improves our communities, maintains our economic dominance, and ensures that this fast-moving technology benefits the public good,”

Governor Newsom affirmed in 2025.

With sweeping state and federal legislative efforts on everything from foundation model regulation to anti-discrimination and digital replica protections, California's policies are shaping nationwide discourse - though debates persist on the risk of overregulation and the need for coherent federal standards, as highlighted in San Francisco's AI regulation analysis.

Concurrently, legal education in San Francisco is also transforming to address these challenges, with programs like the UC Law SF Technology Law and Lawyering Concentration directly preparing future attorneys for the front lines of AI and innovation (learn more about UC Law's tech law initiative).

As AI's social and economic impacts deepen, San Francisco remains not only the birthplace of tech but the testing ground for its ethical, legal, and societal future.