- California bans firing or disciplining workers using AI-powered systems or surveillance
- The 'No Robo Bosses Act' restricts AI as a primary tool for employment decisions
- Governor Newsom criticises AI self-regulation and calls for stronger oversight
California has become the first state in the US to pass a law that bans employers from firing or disciplining workers through AI-powered means and surveillance, the state's Governor Gavin Newsom announced. To be sure, the law is not about using or harnessing AI to replace workers.
The "No Robo Bosses Act" will prevent businesses in the state from exclusively using "automated decision-making systems" and restricts AI's use as a "principal tool" in firing or disciplining workers. It also prevents AI-powered surveillance of employee bathrooms.
California is the largest US state in terms of its economy and population and has dominated AI innovation, with 33 of the top 50 private AI companies in the world based in the state.
"AI should expand opportunity - not come at the expense of workers and families.As this technology reshapes the workplace, California is putting people at the center," Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate said in a statement.
The new law which is divided into multiple bills also enforces companies to provide transparency if any mass layoff, relocation or termination is triggered by an AI system. The law even bans lawyers from "fully handing over core legal work" like drafting briefs to AI.
Interestingly, the California Governor also signed an exhibitive order requiring state agencies to continue to refer to the tech in question as "artificial intelligence" or AI rather than "super intelligence" or SI as US President Donald Trump recently announced.
Newsom called Trump's recent statements that the AI industry can self-regulate "bulls*it."
"We have to do a lot more in the absence of federal leadership," he said.
Newsom also called recent statements from the Trump administration that the AI industry can self-regulate "bulls*it," adding "we have to do a lot more in the absence of federal leadership."
California's new laws come in the backdrop of Meta employee allegations that the Mark Zuckerberg led company used biased AI tools to target and lay off those who took medical leaves.
