CCST and Cal OES Co-Host the California AI Defense & Response Summit

On October 27, 2026, the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) co-hosted the California AI Defense & Response Summit at Cal OES Headquarters in Mather. The invitation-only, full-day event brought together about 100 AI experts, state and local government leaders, and critical infrastructure partners from the energy, water, transportation, healthcare, and education sectors. The shared goals were to strengthen California’s cyber defenses, improve information sharing, and build the state’s cyber resilience.

The CCST and Cal OES teams, with leadership from AI Science Advisor Michael Chen, planned the summit in six weeks in response to the changing cyber threat landscape and Governor Newsom’s Executive Order Executive Order N-9-26 on accelerating independent oversight of frontier AI.

🔐 Cal OES and the California Council on Science and Technology brought experts and partners together for the California AI Defense & Response Summit to strengthen cyber defenses, improve information sharing, and build California’s cyber resilience. pic.twitter.com/PvYhYVJpHf

— California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (@Cal_OES) October 30, 2026

The program unfolded in three parts:

• Building Knowledge and Awareness covered frontier AI cyber capabilities, recent AI security incidents, and an overview of California’s frontier AI governance framework. That framework includes the Transparency in Frontier AI Act (SB 53), AB 979’s AI cyber threat reporting requirements, the emerging AI auditor ecosystem under SB 813 and AB 1405, and Executive Order N-9-26.
• Impacts and Implications looked at catastrophic AI risks beyond cyber, such as misuse for biological weapons development and loss of control over highly capable autonomous systems. It also featured a live demonstration of an AI agent carrying out a multi-step cyberattack on a simulated hospital, followed by a discussion of what AI means for critical infrastructure security.
• Mitigations, Response, and Next Steps examined how the California Cybersecurity Integration Center (Cal-CSIC) is adapting its operations to AI-enabled threats and showcased emerging AI tools for cyber defense. It closed with a working session on how the state and AI companies could work together to detect, report, assess, and respond to severe AI incidents.

The summit supports California’s ongoing work to implement SB 53, the state’s AI Cyber Defense Program, and the AB 979 AI Cybersecurity Collaboration Playbook. It is part of CCST’s AI Science Residency Program, which places science advisors at state agencies to support science-informed policymaking.