Within 24 hours of the Altadena and Palisades fires breaking out in January 2025, teams across the state were already working together to help people who were affected.
The Office of Data and Innovation (ODI) joined forces with the Governor’s Office, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES), the California Department of Technology, and the California Government Operations Agency to build a website where people could find what they needed. It included access to FEMA aid, shelter locations, document replacement, debris removal, air quality updates.
The goal was simple: get the right information to people fast.
After building the site, we learned that even when we pulled everything into one place, people still had to figure out the government on their own. And that everyone had a unique journey.
What the fires revealed about government services
I didn’t know where to start. Every agency had a different website. It felt like I was being victimized all over again just trying to get help.
—2025 LA Fire survivor
People who desperately needed help were being asked to navigate a complicated maze of agencies, programs, and websites at exactly the moment they had the least time, energy, and clarity to do so.
Our researchers spent many hours working with survivors. We heard them describe this like a second trauma: trying to navigate government and retelling their story over and over in order to get help. People shouldn’t have to relive trauma by repeating their story or giving the government the same information more than once.
—Koji Kumpulainien; Deputy Director, Service Innovation; ODI
The reality was there’s no one road to recovery. There’s not one site that can meet every person’s unique experience and needs, making everyone’s path different.
Government, made easier
ODI began the work of building a digital navigator that could meet people where they are, based on life events.
Working with leaders across California, the Newsom administration, technology, academia, and nonprofits, we began designing a better way for people to navigate government.
Rather than starting with the question “How can the state use AI?”, we started with a different one: “How can we make it easier for someone to get the help they actually need?”
AskCA is envisioned as a trusted, AI-powered digital assistant designed to navigate Californians to find the services they need.
It is organized around people’s lives, not around how government is structured.
“The idea was shaped by the people who experienced that problem firsthand,” said ODI Director Jeffery Marino. “ODI is home to experts in research and human-centered design. So we tested AskCA very early on in development with more than 140 fire recovery leaders and Altadena wildfire survivors. We relied on their experiences to understand their struggles and what kind of guidance would actually be useful.”
The result goes beyond a traditional chatbot. AskCA’s responses are informed by verified government sources and continually reviewed by subject-matter experts across state government, with the goal of providing clear, actionable next steps—not simply an AI-generated answer.
The engine of the LLM is running on Anthropic’s Claude. ODI has partnered with Stanford’s RegLab and U.S. Digital Response (USDR) to develop our trust and safety framework, governance on how to use AI responsibly, with program experts remaining in control of the information people receive.
For too many Californians, accessing government services seems like a maze. With AskCA, California is harnessing a culture of innovation to respond to the needs of the state’s 39 million residents to connect with services. Stanford RegLab is proud to partner with the state to pioneer a framework to rigorously learn, evaluate, and improve such a system through rapid technological change.
—Daniel E. Ho, Director, RegLab, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, Stanford University
“The real test of an effective government (assistant) is launching one that serves the needs of its communities and earns their trust. We’re proud to be a part of that work in California,” said Phillip Hunter, Lead Volunteer at USDR. “Our U.S. Digital Response team developed the evaluation and testing methodology for AskCA that helps the state confirm the chatbot is pulling from legitimate government sources and giving residents accurate answers. Trust in a tool like this comes from testing it rigorously, not from hoping it works.”
What comes next
The state is actively recruiting people—ages 18 and up—to sign up to test AskCA.
We have a prototype that has come from working together with fire survivors, business owners, and job seekers in California. Now, it’s time for everyone in California to have a hand in helping us build something that works for them.
“For all these life events, a lot of our research showed that there’s no one user journey,” Koji Kumpulainien said. “Every disaster is unique. Every new business or job seeker has a different path. And we want to provide the best customer service possible that is grounded in subject matter expertise and safety. That is why we need Californians to join this pilot.”