Lawmakers take targeted approach to regulate AI

AI’s use in the employment context is also the focus of California Sen. Jerry McNerney’s No Robo Bosses Act of 2026. Among the protections, the billTrack would bar employers from using AI to circumvent employment or civil rights laws. It would also prohibit the sole use of automated systems to fire or discipline an employee.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar billTrack last year, but McNerney said the new version has been updated to address the governor’s concerns.

“AI must remain a tool controlled by humans, not the other way around,” McNerney, a Democrat who previously served in Congress, said in a statement last month announcing his bill.

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