California Assemblymembers meet during an Assembly session at the state capitol, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)Repeating its performance from last fall, the California legislature has once again passed a slate of AI-related bills. Governor Gavin Newsom has already signed several bills relating to chatbots and independent audits, and the rest await his signature or veto. These remaining bills apply variously to employers, advertisers, large online platforms, healthcare providers, AI developers, chatbot providers, and attorneys, among others. Even if not all of them become law, their sheer number, along with some strong and unique provisions, keep the state at the forefront of AI regulation in the United States.In this article, we summarize thematically the key AI bills passed in this California legislative session, indicating which ones the Governor has signed into law.AI in employmentThe “No Robo Bosses Act of 2026,” SB 947, would prohibit employers from relying solely on an automated decision system (ADS) when making disciplinary or termination decisions. No other US state has such a ban. Like some state laws and rules, however, the bill would impose obligations on employers when they rely primarily on an ADS to make such a decision. Employers would have to have a human “corroborate” the ADS output. If so corroborated, an employer must provide a “postuse notice” when informing the employee of the decision and, if requested, describe the…

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