Only California state employees can use Poppy, a new AI assistant designed for security
Only California state employees can use Poppy, a new AI assistant designed for security
https://statescoop.com/california-poppy-state-government-ai-assistant/
Publish Date: 2026-02-20 14:47:00
Source Domain: statescoop.com
California technology officials said a new AI-powered digital assistant, called Poppy, is helping employees speed through bureaucratic hurdles within a secure ecosystem that keeps government data on official networks.
Poppy, named after the state’s official flower, is a generative artificial intelligence tool designed by the state to be used only by state workers. It operates on a secure, state-government network, and it only pulls information from official CA.gov websites, to ensure sensitive data is not compromised.
Poppy launched in September as a pilot project, aiming to improve data-sharing and collaboration across agencies.
Johnathan Porat, chief technology officer at the California Department of Technology, said Poppy has more than 2,600 users across 66 departments. Under the pilot, Poppy is offered at no cost to participating departments, but is limited to 100 users per agency.
Porat said the pilot has received positive reviews from users, for enhancing their efficiency and confidence. Legal teams use it for policy analysis, human resources officials use it for succession planning and others use it for filling out state forms.
“So the guiding principle behind Poppy has been: for state workers, by state workers, built by us here at the state. Everything is built around the idea that a state worker is using it,” Porat said in an interview. “It’s great that not only can we have an AI tool that’s this accessible, but it’s an AI tool that’s secure and really grounded and built off of state data.”
Porat said Poppy launched in response to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2023 executive order, which tasked state agencies with creating risk-assessment reports for how generative AI could affect their work, California’s economy and the state’s energy usage.
Unlike public AI services, Poppy operates entirely on California’s internal infrastructure, meaning queries, documents and responses never leave the state’s trusted…
