United States of America: Governor of California issued order on artificial intelligence procurement standards and use of generative AI (Executive Order N-5-26)

On 30 March 2026, the Governor of California issued Executive Order N-5-26 on artificial intelligence (AI) procurement standards and the use of generative AI (GenAI) in state government. The Order applies to companies seeking to contract with the state of California that develop or deploy AI tools, as well as to California state agencies and departments. The Order directs the Department of General Services (DGS) and the California Department of Technology (CDT) to submit, within 120 days, recommendations for new certification requirements to be incorporated into state contracting processes. Companies would be required to attest to their policies and safeguards in three areas. First, companies would be required to demonstrate measures to prevent the distribution of illegal content, including child sexual abuse material and non-consensual intimate imagery. Second, companies would be required to show governance mechanisms for AI models to mitigate harmful bias. Third, they would be required to demonstrate safeguards protecting civil rights, including freedom of speech, voting rights, and protections against unlawful discrimination, detention, and surveillance. The Government Operations Agency (GovOps) is separately directed to submit, within 120 days, recommendations on reforms to contractor responsibility provisions, including suspension and ineligibility authorities, to prevent the state from contracting with entities found to have unlawfully undermined privacy or civil liberties. The CDT Chief Information Security Officer is directed to review any federal supply chain risk designations and, where a designation is considered improper, DGS and CDT will issue guidance allowing continued procurement from the company concerned. The Order further directs state agencies, within 120 days, to facilitate employee access to vetted GenAI tools, develop a pilot application providing Californians with access to government services by life event, and publish a data minimisation toolkit. Within the same period, CDT shall issue best practice guidance for watermarking AI-generated or significantly manipulated images and video, consistent with California Business & Professional Code sections 22757.2 and 22757.3. The Order took effect immediately upon signing, while the 120-day deadline for recommendations and guidance falls on 28 July 2026.