On August 31, California Business and Consumer Services Agency (BCSA) Secretary, and former CFPB Director, Rohit Chopra published a blog post titled “Ensuring New Technologies Benefit All Californians,” announcing that the BCSA will investigate how businesses deploy AI and chatbot technologies to ensure they are not being used to perpetrate scams, exploit consumer data, or undermine longstanding consumer protections, including prohibitions on unlicensed activity. The BCSA, which Governor Gavin Newsom launched on July 1, and which houses the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation among dozens of other consumer-protection boards and departments, said it will examine whether certain AI deployments violate prohibitions on the unlicensed practice of certain professions, and will coordinate with other state agencies across sectors including financial services, health care, and real estate. As previously covered by InfoBytes, the BCSA announced in July that it would target harmful and corrupt business practices that raise costs for consumers.