Gavin Newsom signs laws to protect California workers from AI threat

Governor Gavin Newsom signed laws Wednesday aimed at protecting California workers from the threats of artificial intelligence, including potential job losses and workplace surveillance. The laws ban employers from using the technology to predict a worker's emotional state by using their biometric data, require employers to send written notices to workers if AI is responsible for mass layoffs and ban employers from relying on AI to decide to fire someone. The Democratic governor also signed an executive order to require state agencies to continue to refer to the technology as "artificial intelligence" instead of the term "super intelligence" as Donald Trump recently ordered US diplomats to use. "AI should expand opportunity - not come at the expense of workers and families," Newsom said in a statement. "As this technology reshapes the workplace, California is putting people at the center."