California Lawmakers Urge Attorney General To Investigate AI Astroturf Campaign Targeting Clean Air Rules

OAKLAND - Twenty-two California state and local elected officials are calling on Attorney General Rob Bonta and four district attorneys to open a formal investigation into two alleged AI astroturf campaigns that flooded air quality regulators with public comments. The letter, sent today by the Sierra Club, names district attorneys Nathan Hochman (Los Angeles County), Brooke Jenkins (San Francisco), Ursula Jones Dickson (Alameda County), and Jeff Rosen (Santa Clara County) as additional recipients.

"Elected officials and regulators can only do their jobs when public comment processes reflect the views of real people," said Senator Ben Allen (SD-24). "If automated systems were used to generate false or misleading comments in constituents' names, that is an abuse of the process and it must be investigated. Californians deserve to know who was behind it and whose interests they were serving."

The request follows investigative reporting by the Los Angeles Times revealing that an AI-powered advocacy platform, CiviClick, generated more than 20,000 comments opposing proposed clean air standards at the South Coast Air Quality Management District ahead of a key vote last June. When agency staff attempted to verify a small sample of the comments, several individuals said they had never written or authorized the messages submitted in their names.

Similar concerns have also emerged in the Bay Area. Reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle found that an AI-integrated platform called Speak4 was used by a group known as the Common Sense Coalition , organized by the Bay Area Council, to send emails to Bay Area Air District board members during deliberations over air pollution rules. The Chronicle confirmed that at least 10 were submitted in individuals' names without their consent - including San Pablo resident Anthony Clewis, who said: "This was forged. I never wrote the letter. It's a travesty and conflict of interest and an invasion of privacy. … It made me feel like someone is cyberhacking me."

"Public participation is a cornerstone of our democracy. I am alarmed by reports that false comments were submitted to key regulatory agencies using AI-integrated software. These developments raise serious concerns and must be investigated immediately," said Los Angeles City Council President Pro Tem Bob Blumenfield . "I am proud to join the many state and local lawmakers calling upon Attorney General Rob Bonta to take action and ensure that efforts to use artificial intelligence or any other method to impersonate individuals and muddy public discourse are taken seriously."

The extent of the AI astroturf campaigns remains unknown - who funded them, whose identities were used without consent, and whether California law was broken. In their letter, state lawmakers and local elected officials call for an investigation needed to answer these questions and protect the integrity of local clean air rulemaking processes.

The campaign targeting SCAQMD was organized by a public affairs consultant affiliated with California Strategies, a major lobbying firm whose clients include Sempra, the parent company of Southern California Gas Co., a leading opponent of the rules. In their letter, lawmakers warn that the potential use of artificial intelligence to submit false or misleading comments in constituents' names could misrepresent public opinion and undermine the integrity of the public comment process.

"Public comment processes are supposed to reflect what real people think, not what corporations can manufacture with artificial intelligence. If comments are being generated by AI and submitted in people's names without their consent, that is not public participation," said Dylan Plummer, Acting Deputy Director of the Sierra Club's Clean Heat Campaign . "It is an astroturf campaign designed to manipulate regulators and manufacture opposition to clean air protections. Californians deserve to know who funded it and whether fossil fuel interests tried to game the system."