# Santa Cruz County Updates AI Work Plan

On October 20, Santa Cruz County supervisors approved an update to the county’s 2026 AI work plan covering access to Anthropic’s Claude, a public-facing chatbot, and AI indexing in the recorder’s office. The county directed staff to return with updated privacy and governance provisions. The update is not a solicitation or contract award, but it may shape future procurement requirements for AI tools used by county departments.

- The county’s direction concerns privacy and governance; recommendations in the article for independent monitoring, human approval of consequential actions, and a tested shutdown process are not identified as adopted requirements.
- Contractors serving the county can assess whether their AI offerings support auditability, human oversight, privacy controls, and reliable shutdown mechanisms, and be prepared to document those capabilities if future procurements require them.
- No contract value, solicitation, procurement contact, or deadline is identified. The county’s forthcoming governance provisions are the concrete next step relevant to potential suppliers.

**Jurisdictions:** sled
**Industries:** Information Technology
**Topics:** Artificial Intelligence
**Published:** November 05, 2026

### Government Entities
- Santa Cruz County

### Vendors
- Anthropic (AI platform provider for Claude)

### Sources
- [Santa Cruz County’s AI plan needs a real off switch - Lookout Santa Cruz](https://lookout.co/santa-cruz-countys-ai-plan-needs-a-real-off-switch/story) - Lookout Santa Cruz