Newsom Sticks It to Trump, Signs ‘No Robo Bosses Act’ and Several Other AI Bills

One day after Trump hosted AI executives at the White House, all of whom he said made a “morally binding” agreement on AI safety, Newsom signed a slate of California AI laws, including a first-in-the-nation ban on AI-only firing decisions.

The centerpiece of Newsom's package is SB 947, the “No Robo Bosses Act,” which prevents California employers from relying solely on AI-powered automated decision systems to fire or discipline employees, as CNBC reports. If AI is primarily responsible for such a decision, a human must review the decision and corroborate it with other information, such as manager evaluations, employee work, or personnel records.

Workers must also receive written notice when AI was primarily used in a termination or disciplinary decision, along with information about the data used by the system and a human contact who can explain the decision. The law takes effect in July 2027.

Per CNBC, Newsom vetoed an earlier version of the No Robo Bosses Act last year, despite it passing both chambers of the Legislature with broad support. That version would have required employers to notify workers in advance whenever an AI system could affect their working conditions, a provision Newsom objected to as overly broad.

When state Senator Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, reintroduced the bill this year, he removed the advance-notice requirement and dropped protections for gig workers, which had drawn heavy opposition from rideshare companies including Uber and Lyft. McNerney said AI systems can make mistakes and exhibit bias, and decisions with major consequences for workers should remain under human control.

“No worker should ever be fired or disciplined by a machine, AI or not,” said McNerney.

KQED reports that the other workplace bills Newsom signed Wednesday address some of the ways employers are using AI to monitor workers. The package reportedly restricts systems that attempt to determine employees' emotional states or collect neural data, and prohibits employers from using workplace surveillance tools in bathrooms. Another measure requires additional information in layoff notices when jobs are being eliminated because of technological displacement.

The new laws also extend into health care, where AB 1979 prevents health care entities from using AI in a way that replaces the clinical judgment of licensed professionals. AI can reportedly assist with those decisions, but the final call remains with the health care provider, while the law also extends medical confidentiality protections to health chatbots.

“We stood up and said that A.I. must support, not replace, the clinical judgement of the nurses and other health care professionals who care for our patients,” said Sandy Reding, RN and president of California Nurses Association in a press release.

Other bills signed Wednesday address how people identify and interact with AI-generated material, including new protections against AI-generated deepfakes, unauthorized digital replicas, and false impersonation, as well as stronger requirements around digital watermarks and provenance data.

Newsom also signed a measure requiring public higher education institutions to develop AI training and procurement standards, as well as legislation limiting the ability of attorneys and other legal professionals to turn core legal work over entirely to AI.

The bills are the latest pieces of Newsom's expanding AI regulatory framework. As SFist reported previously, the governor signed legislation last month establishing a system for independent organizations to evaluate AI models for safety and risk, along with a state registry and standards for AI auditors. He has also issued executive orders addressing the technology's potential impact on workers, cybersecurity, privacy, and the risks posed by more powerful AI models.

On Wednesday, Newsom took a separate swipe at Trump's approach to AI by ordering California state agencies to continue calling the technology “artificial intelligence,” rather than “Super Intelligence,” the term Trump ordered federal officials to use, according to Gizmodo.

The order came a day after Trump hosted top executives from Google, Meta, Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, and Nvidia, who all signed a voluntary agreement outlining AI safety measures, which Trump described as “morally binding.”

Newsom has criticized the federal government's approach to AI regulation as the technology becomes increasingly embedded in workplaces and other parts of everyday life.

“What I heard in Washington DC yesterday is bullsh*t, and that should scare the hell out of everybody,” Newsom said in a video posted after the meeting.

The new laws are likely to have some impact on the AI-run Andon Market in San Francisco. Its agent Luna recently fired its first employee, although it was prompted by the humans at the startup that's operating the market as some sort of “experiment.”

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