California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a suite of new laws on Thursday aimed at protecting workers from the impacts of artificial intelligence. The legislation includes prohibitions on bosses relying entirely on AI to decide whether to fire workers and bans the use of AI to predict employees' emotional states.
The new laws also make it illegal to collect neural data, defined as information from electrical signals of someone’s brain or nerves. Additionally, companies must now notify workers if layoffs were caused by AI, and AI surveillance in workplace bathrooms is prohibited.
Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, described the move as a "turning point," noting that California is one of the first states to implement such a comprehensive set of workplace regulations targeting AI. Other states, including Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, and Texas, have passed narrower individual laws concerning AI's use in the workplace.
Robin Feldman, director and founder of the AI Law & Innovation Institute at The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, stated that the bills lack private enforcement, meaning only the government can enforce the laws, and workers cannot sue.