California Governor Gavin Newson signed a bill on Wednesday prohibiting California companies from collecting data on employees' brain activity or deducing employees' emotional states through AI-driven monitoring tools. The Act restricts employers' use of various systems, including video and audio surveillance, continuous work time trackers, geolocation, and electromagnetic tracking. If these systems use artificial intelligence to gather neural data or identify employee sentiment, they will be severely limited. Under the new law, each violation is punishable by a civil fine of up to $500, and enforcement will be the responsibility of the state labor commissioner and public prosecutor.

California Governor Gavin Newson signed a bill on Wednesday prohibiting California companies from collecting data on employees' brain activity or deducing employees' emotional states through AI-driven monitoring tools. The Act restricts employers' use of various systems, including video and audio surveillance, continuous work time trackers, geolocation, and electromagnetic tracking. If these systems use artificial intelligence to gather neural data or identify employee sentiment, they will be severely limited. Under the new law, each violation is punishable by a civil fine of up to $500, and enforcement will be the responsibility of the state labor commissioner and public prosecutor.