California Just Banned Employers From Reading Workers' Brains With AI
Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of artificial intelligence workplace laws on September 30, 2026, that labor leaders described as the strongest worker protections against AI in the country, covering everything from brain activity surveillance to automated firing decisions to AI replacing clinical judgment in healthcare settings. Assembly Bill 1883 bans California employers from using AI-powered tools to collect data on workers' neural activity or infer their emotional states, targeting a growing category of workplace surveillance technology that uses biometric sensors and machine learning to assess whether employees are stressed, distracted, focused, or emotionally engaged. The European Union's AI Act already prohibits emotion recognition systems in workplaces and educational settings. California is now the first US state to follow with equivalent restrictions. The law defines workplace surveillance tools broadly as any system, application, or device that collects information about employees' activities, communications, biometrics, or behaviors in a way other than direct human observation, and carries civil penalties of up to $500 per violation, enforced by the state labor commissioner and public prosecutors. A separate measure, AB 1331, bans employers from using surveillance tools to monitor workers in bathrooms, with limited exceptions, and gives employees the right to leave surveillance devices behind when entering those areas.
The package's most significant measure for most workers is Senate Bill 947, known as the No Robo Bosses Act, which prohibits California employers from relying solely on automated decision-making systems to fire or discipline employees, and bars AI from being used as the principal tool in those decisions without meaningful human involvement. No worker should ever be fired or disciplined by a machine, Newsom said in a statement, and that is now the law in California. Employers must also provide workers with advance notice of significant AI-driven decisions affecting their employment, and are prohibited from using automated systems to infer workers' protected characteristics or to predict and retaliate against workers for exercising legal rights. A fourth law, AB 1979, bars healthcare entities specifically from using AI to replace the clinical judgment of licensed professionals, limits AI to an advisory role in medical settings, and extends medical confidentiality protections to health chatbots. Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, called Newsom's signings a demonstration of how the country can begin to put guardrails on AI at work to ensure human control over this technology, limit surveillance, and put workers first. Newsom noted that the package was signed on his last day to act on bills before he terms out of office in January, and left open the possibility of calling a special legislative session to address additional AI workplace issues before he leaves. California has regulated technology companies from inside their own backyard for years. These laws regulate what those companies can do to the people who work for them.
