California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs laws to protect workers from AI risks
California enacted worker protections restricting AI-based emotion prediction, automated firing decisions and notification practices for AI-linked mass layoffs.
Summary
The Associated Press reported, in a piece updated on September 30, 2026, that California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a set of laws on Wednesday intended to shield workers from dangers posed by artificial intelligence. The article, written by Sophie Austin in Sacramento, identifies two main concerns behind the measures: the possibility of lost jobs and the growth of surveillance in the workplace.
The package places three limits on employers. First, they may not use workers' biometric data to forecast how a worker is feeling emotionally. Second, when AI is responsible for large-scale layoffs, employers must give affected workers written notice. Third, employers are barred from relying on AI to make the decision to dismiss someone.
Alongside the legislation, the Democratic governor signed an executive order directed at state agencies. It requires them to keep calling the technology artificial intelligence, rather than adopting the term super intelligence, which the report says President Donald Trump recently told American diplomats to use. The article thus pairs the labor measures with a disagreement over vocabulary between the state and the federal administration.
The portion of the article available here does not set out when the new rules take effect or how they will be enforced, so those details are not covered in this summary.