Newsom signs California law limiting AI-only worker discipline

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law barring employers from relying solely on automated systems to discipline or fire workers, while separately directing state agencies under his authority to continue using the terms “artificial intelligence” and “AI.” The workplace measure, Senate Bill 947, is scheduled to become operative July 1, 2027. Under the law, when an employer primarily relies on an automated decision system for discipline or termination, a human must review and corroborate the system’s output with additional information. The law also bars use of an output that a reviewer finds inaccurate, incomplete or misleading, or cannot corroborate, according to the legislation’s reported provisions. Employees must receive written notice when an automated system played a primary role in a disciplinary or termination decision, and be told that a human reviewed the result. Workers may also request a description of the data about them used by the system. The law’s requirements turn on whether an employer “primarily” relies on an automated system, a threshold that remains undefined in the accounts of the legislation.