California’s new laws target workers’ biggest fear of AI taking their jobs

Analysis California’s new laws target workers’ biggest fear of AI taking their jobs Danielle Abril The state, which is home to many AI companies, is one of the first to roll out workplace regulations targeting the technology

California’s laws aimed at protecting workers from the impacts of artificial intelligence could pave the way for broader workplace safeguards across the US as calls for regulating the technology mount. As the federal government goes hands-off on AI, California is taking the reins to address workers’ biggest fears.

On Thursday, California governor Gavin Newsom signed a suite of new laws that ban bosses from relying entirely on AI to decide whether to fire workers, using it to predict employees’ emotional states or collecting neural data, meaning the information from electrical signals of someone’s brain or nerves. They also require companies to notify workers if layoffs were caused by AI and prohibit AI surveillance in workplace bathrooms.

The new laws come as workers increasingly worry whether AI will take their jobs, lead to discrimination and increase workplace surveillance. Unions, worker advocates and even some lawmakers pushed for the new rules, a regulatory shift for a technology that has largely developed unchecked. California , home to many of the leading companies developing AI, represents one of the first states to roll out a sweeping set of workplace regulations targeting the technology.

“It’s a turning point,” said Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, who’s been helping leaders across the country write regulations. “It’s really the first time we’re seeing California workers showing the country that we don’t have to accept [this].”

Other states that have recently passed individual laws aimed at AI’s use in the workplace include Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois and Texas, narrower in scope than California’s. And more bills across the county are being lined up for consideration, Gonzalez said.

California’s laws aim to target workplace surveillance measures like heat maps that track employees’ movements, including how long they spend in the bathroom, or having their emotional states monitored. Amazon warehouse workers have previously complained about being timed on their bathroom breaks, for example. And at Kaiser Permanente, nurses have said automated systems rated their tone of voice in patient interactions.

“We don’t know all the places companies are using AI, and that is and should be scary,” Gonzalez said.

Part of the strategy for worker advocates and union groups like the California Federation has been following AI companies’ latest products. “If it’s being sold, that’s a good indication” it could be in use, Gonzales said. The federation also plans to use the momentum to revive issues like requiring employers to disclose when they’re using AI in the workplace, which was a bill that died in the state’s assembly appropriations committee this year.