On September 30, 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill (SB) 947, the “No Robo Bosses” Act. The law arrives only one year after Newsom vetoed a previous version of the bill as too broad and unnecessarily burdensome on California businesses. SB 947, however, suffers from the same defects.
Proponents characterize SB 947 as a modest measure that requires employers who rely on artificial intelligence (A.I.) to make disciplinary or termination decisions to verify the A.I.’s output before acting. In reality, the law imposes obligations in several situations beyond discipline and termination, and it creates another basis for litigation under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).
This bill was sponsored by former Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions. Gonzalez has been candid about the legislative strategy behind the bill. In her remarks at the “A.I. and Future of Work” global dialogue in Rome on May 5, 2026, Gonzalez presented the future as a choice between two worlds: one in which workers have “security in good jobs, robust protections, and the ability to collectively govern their lives and workplaces,” and one in which workers are displaced by unbridled capitalism. The “best way” to achieve the former is achieved, she observed, “is through engaging workers in the collective bargaining process. But absent universal unions, we need regulations.” This bill is just one such regulation. Employers in California...
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