Newsom signs California laws limiting employers' use of AI against workers

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed laws on Wednesday aimed at protecting workers from artificial intelligence, including potential job losses and workplace surveillance. 1 2 The laws ban employers from using biometric data to predict a worker's emotional state, require written notice to workers if AI is responsible for mass layoffs, and bar employers from relying on AI to decide to fire someone. 1 Newsom also signed an executive order requiring state agencies to keep calling the technology "artificial intelligence" rather than "super intelligence", the term Trump recently ordered US diplomats to use. 1 2

In a statement, Newsom said AI should expand opportunity and not come at the expense of workers and families. 1 At an hour-long event with reporters, he criticised Trump for not passing comprehensive federal AI regulation. Trump had said a day earlier that top tech leaders signed a voluntary accord to "self-police" AI development. 1 2 Earlier this month Newsom signed a law requiring AI chatbot operators to carry out risk assessments before release, plus an executive order on consulting experts about oversight. He said "We have to do a lot more in the absence of federal leadership" and left open calling lawmakers back for a special session. 1

It was Newsom's last day to sign or veto bills before he leaves office in January, and the event also touched on the midterms, the 2028 election and a billionaire tax ballot measure he opposes. 2 1 The Guardian's copy adds that he began the event by signing a tax credit program to help local news organisations hire journalists, and that he criticised Trump's barring of news organisations from the White House. 2