California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs laws to protect workers from AI risks

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed laws Wednesday meant to shield workers from AI-related risks such as job losses and workplace surveillance, the Associated Press reported. The new laws bar employers from using AI and biometric data to gauge a worker's emotions, require written notice to workers when AI causes mass layoffs, and prohibit employers from letting AI alone decide to fire someone.

Among the measures is SB 947, known as the No Robo Bosses Act, which CNBC reported prevents employers statewide from relying exclusively on "automated decision-making systems" to discipline or terminate workers and limits their use as a principal tool in such decisions. Under the bill, employers that primarily rely on AI output for termination or discipline must have a human reviewer corroborate the decision using additional information such as managerial evaluations, peer reviews or personnel files, according to CNBC. Affected employees must also get written notice that AI was primarily used, a description of the data used by the system, and a human contact who can explain the decision.

"No worker should ever be fired or disciplined by a machine, AI or not," state Sen. Jerry McNerney, the bill's author, told CNBC. "AI must remain a tool controlled by humans, not the other way around," he said. Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO and the bill's lead sponsor, said in a statement reported by CNBC that California's workers and unions have "changed the national narrative" on fighting AI's takeover of jobs and workplaces.

Newsom also signed an executive order requiring state agencies to keep referring to the technology as "artificial intelligence" rather than "super intelligence," the term President Donald Trump recently ordered U.S. diplomats to use, according to the AP. "AI should expand opportunity — not come at the expense of workers and families," Newsom said in a statement. "As this technology reshapes the workplace, California is putting people at the center."

At an hourlong event with reporters Wednesday, Newsom criticized Trump for not passing comprehensive federal AI regulations as industry leaders warn of the technology's risks, the AP reported. Trump had said Tuesday that top tech leaders signed a voluntary accord to "self-police" AI development. "We have to do a lot more in the absence of federal leadership," Newsom said, leaving open the possibility of a special legislative session on the issue.

CNBC reported that No Robo Bosses previously stalled when Newsom vetoed it in October despite the bill clearing both legislative chambers with overwhelming support, citing concerns over an advance-notice requirement for any AI use affecting work conditions. McNerney reintroduced the bill in February, removing the pre-notification requirement and language extending protections to gig workers that had drawn criticism from Uber and Lyft, according to CNBC. California business leaders still opposed the bill; Robert Singleton of the Chamber of Progress wrote to Newsom that the term "primarily relies" is undefined, leaving employers "no objective standard for determining when a technology has moved from merely informing a decision to being a primary basis for it," CNBC reported. Steve Hilton, the Republican nominee for California governor, backed the act, writing that "in some ways, I don't think SB 947 goes far enough," according to CNBC.

CNBC reported the signing makes California the first U.S. state to enact such a law, noting a May survey by nonprofit United for Respect found Walmart and Amazon workers increasingly worried that HR decisions are being automated, and that Meta faces a July lawsuit alleging AI-assisted systems were used to select workers for layoffs, which Meta has denied. The signing fell on Newsom's final day to sign or veto bills before leaving office in January, the AP reported, weeks before midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.