- 'No Robo Bosses Act' signed in California, comes into force in July 2027
- Humans can't just approve an automated decision, they must bring evidence
- Governor Gavin Newsom criticized Trump administration for a lack of federal leadership
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a major package of no fewer than 13 AI-related bills as the state continues to increase the pressure on AI via human-protecting regulation centered around employment, education, legal and more.
Among the new bills was the 'No Robo Bosses Act', which essentially limits employers from using automated decision-making to discipline or fire workers.
The bill, officially known as SB 947, is described as California's human-in-the-loop law to keep humans at the core of workplace decisions that affect workers' lives.
California to protect workers from AI-powered disciplinary action
The bill insists that an employer cannot rely solely on an automated decision system when deciding to discipline, or terminate, an employee. But furthermore, a human can't merely approve an automated decision – they must also provide their own evidence to corroborate with the automated decision.
"We are deeply mindful we have to do a lot more in the absence of federal leadership," Newsom said in a statement (via X), referring to Trump's decision to rename artificial intelligence 'super intelligence'.
Yesterday's meeting with tech leaders also saw the creation of a new "morally binding" agreement whereby major companies, including Google, Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, SpaceX and Nvidia, would be responsible for ensuring the safety of their own AI.
This, of course, comes following ongoing calls for greater government oversight of AI.
"By signing these four first-in-the-nation bills, Governor Newsom has shown the country how we can begin to put guardrails on AI at work to ensure human oversight over this technology, limit surveillance, and put workers first," the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO President Lorena Gonzalez, said.
Crucially, though this specific bill was signed on September 30 2026, it won't be effective until July 1, 2027.
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