California Governor Newsom Signs SB 947 and AB 1883, Restricting Workplace AI Decisions and Banning Emotion/Neural Surveillance

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed two key bills aimed at regulating the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace. In a review following the adjournment of the 2026 legislative session, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) highlighted the No Robo Bosses Act (SB 947) and AB 1883 as significant victories for digital rights.

SB 947 limits how employers can use automated decision-making systems to fire or discipline workers. The law ensures that an algorithm cannot be the sole authority for these consequential decisions and mandates that workers receive vital information about automated decisions affecting them. This establishes a requirement for human oversight in major employment actions in California, preventing fully autonomous AI-driven terminations or disciplinary measures.

Simultaneously, AB 1883 prohibits the use of workplace surveillance tools to predict employee emotions or collect neural data. This provision directly targets technologies that attempt to analyze psychological states, stress levels, or brainwaves through wearables or cameras. EFF argues this stops potentially biased, invasive, and exploitative forms of AI surveillance from entering the workplace, marking an important step toward protecting worker privacy and autonomy.

Beyond workplace AI regulation, the session saw other digital rights developments. SB 747 allows citizens to sue federal officials for damages if they violate the U.S. Constitution, filling gaps in remedies for First Amendment violations (such as recording police) and Fourth Amendment searches of phones and laptops. Additionally, AB 1854 and AB 1930 strengthened California's shield laws to protect medical records related to reproductive health and gender-affirming care from politically motivated out-of-state investigations.