In spite of widespread concerns over the automation of key HR and recruitment decisions, Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill which would have curbed business’s reliance on artificial intelligence.
Despite growing disquiet around the world over employers delegating their hiring and firing decisions to artificial intelligence, California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill authored and introduced by Senator Steve Padilla that sought to introduce wide-ranging controls over how employers use AI in the workplace. The proposed law – Senate Bill (SB) No 7, dubbed the ‘No Robo Bosses Act’ – was intended to increase transparency and limit employers’ reliance on automated systems in hiring, discipline and dismissal decisions.
Announcing his veto on 13 October, the governor explained that, while he recognised legitimate worries about the misuse of AI, the legislation imposed “overly broad restrictions” on businesses while failing to target real instances of harm and risking entangling even benign uses of technology in cumbersome compliance obligations.
“I share the author’s concern that in certain cases unregulated use of automated decision systems by employers can be harmful to workers,” the governor wrote. “However, the bill imposes unfocused notification requirements on any business using even the most innocuous tools.”
The veto follows months of debate in Sacramento, where lawmakers had already scaled back some of the bill’s more severe provisions...
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