By admin 
Both candidates running for California governor say they back new restrictions on artificial intelligence, a booming state industry that polls show has been greeted warily by voters.
Read more Officer-involved shooting closes WB Highway 50 near Rancho Cordova, deputies say
The Legislature passed a slew of more than 20 laws that would regulate AI and now await action from outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom. They include SB 947, a bill that would bar employers from solely using AI to discipline or fire workers.
At a campaign stop in Long Beach, a reporter asked Becerra, who is leading in polls to replace Newsom, if he backed the bill.
“I am very supportive of putting guardrails on AI,” Becerra said. “I don’t know the specifics of some of the measures, but it is time to put guardrails on AI.”
SB 947 has made for some unusual bedfellows; its backers include Becerra’s Republican rival, Steve Hilton, as well as the California Federation of Labor.
“In this case, the unions got it right,” Hilton said in a post on social media, while taking a swipe at the California Chamber of Commerce, which opposed the bill and has endorsed Becerra.
Read more Religious leaders can strengthen trust in democracy ahead of midterm elections | Opinion
In a letter to the Federation’s president, Lorena Gonzalez, last week, Hilton said last week the bill didn’t go far enough. Hilton said he backed banning employers from using automated systems at all when deciding whether a worker is fired, demoted, disciplined or locked out of an app they rely on for income.
It’s the second time a similar bill will be sent to Newsom’s desk. He vetoed a measure in 2025 that would have required employers provide a written notice when an automated system was used to make a decision on a worker’s wages, discipline and firing. This year’s outright ban is enforceable by the California attorney general and district attorneys.
Newsom has until the end of the month to decide whether to sign the bills.
In the primary, the candidates laid out differing visions on how to regulate AI. In one May debate hosted by CBS California, Becerra said he would work with the industry to develop a “clear set of rules” to protect workers and children without pushing the industry to China. He also said the companies should provide Californians “a little extra” without elaborating what he meant.
At a May CNN debate, Hilton rejected calls to tax the industry or force them to compensate workers, saying the state too often resorted to taxation as an automatic response to policy questions. And at the CBS debate, Hilton declined during a lightning round to give a yes or no answer on whether he supported restrictions on chatbots that interact with young users, saying his position was more nuanced than those buckets. Becerra said he backed regulations.
Becerra received substantial financial support in the final weeks of his primary from employees working for AI giant Anthropic. The company supports adding more safety guardrails on AI.
Read more Folsom City Council to discuss proposed e-bike ordinances at Tuesday meeting