Labor unions urge Gov. Gavin Newsom, California lawmakers to rein in artificial intelligence

SACRAMENTO — National national leaders, including the caput of 1 of California’s largest labour organizations, connected Wednesday urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to support workers arsenic artificial quality threatens to regenerate oregon surveil employees — and warned that a nonaccomplishment to bash truthful could wounded his statesmanlike ambitions.

“This is simply a precedence for the full nation,” Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, said astatine a quality league adjacent the authorities Capitol. “He cannot walk his clip waiting to beryllium done successful California and deliberation he’s not going to get questions astir the existent issues surrounding AI, Big Tech and the Big Tech billionaires that are trying to bargain our government.”

Gonzalez, a erstwhile authorities lawmaker from San Diego, said the federation is sponsoring a bundle of caller bills aimed astatine reining successful the usage of AI and protecting the rights of workers, including safeguards against spying successful the workplace and restrictions connected layoffs.

The bundle of bills supported by labour organizations includes:

• Senate Bill 947 by Sen. Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton), which would necessitate quality oversight if an algorithm is utilized to warrant the subject oregon termination of an employee.
• Senate Bill 951, introduced by Sen. Eloise Gomez Reyes (D-Colton), which would necessitate employers to supply a 90-day beforehand announcement to workers and section and authorities governments earlier AI-related layoffs. It would use to cases affecting 25 oregon much workers oregon 25% of the workforce, whichever is less. Recent layoffs, including astatine Amazon, Expedia and Pinterest, person been tied to AI, though immoderate economists reason it’s challenging to find whether that was the superior factor.
• Assembly Bill 1331, dubbed “No bosses successful the bathroom,” would assistance workers the close to region workplace surveillance tools erstwhile entering nationalist bathrooms oregon definite employee-only areas. The bill, authored by Assemblymember Sade Elhawary (D-Los Angeles), would taxable employers to a $500 civilian punishment for violations.

Gonzalez said labour organizations are often told to “work it out” with businesses but argued this was a dormant end.

“We are not going to beryllium capable to execute guardrails by moving with bosses who privation nary guardrails,” she said. “It is clip that the politician engages with workers successful the workplace. Every AI convening helium does, everybody he’s pulled unneurotic is [representing] AI and Big Tech lobbyists.”

Gonzalez was joined Wednesday by Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, and different labour leaders from Iowa, Georgia, North Carolina and Nevada.

“This is the astir urgent contented that we [as workers] are facing,” Shuler said. “This is simply a situation and nary 1 is prepared.”

In a associated missive addressed to Newsom, they implored the politician to enactment rapidly to found meaningful safeguards astir the technology.

“This combat extends beyond devastating occupation losses and caller forms of national busting,” a transcript of the missive states. “There is dignity successful quality enactment that is the instauration of a healthy, productive democracy. The aboriginal of our system and our nine cannot beryllium near to the unchecked whims of nett driven exertion corporations and billionaires.”

In an email to The Times, Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos said the politician had a beardown grounds of warring for workers’ rights, including raising the minimum wage and expanding sick permission and different idiosyncratic protections.

“No Governor has done much than Governor Gavin Newsom to modulate AI successful a mode that protects workers without sidesplitting jobs oregon innovation,” she wrote. “Under his leadership, California has taken the astir comprehensive, worker-centered attack to AI successful the country.”

Adults successful the United States are increasing progressively acrophobic astir the ramifications of AI, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center. Fifty percent of those surveyed past twelvemonth said they are “more acrophobic than excited” astir the accrued usage of AI successful regular life, up from 37% successful 2021.