October 8, 2026
Keeping human decision-makers involved when businesses use AI to hire and fire employees is slowly gaining traction among state lawmakers, notably in newly enacted California legislation and rulemaking underway in Colorado.
A handful of states so far have successfully passed laws addressing transparency disclosures on employers’ use of artificial intelligence, and a subset of those also call for human oversight. The measures are intended to help prevent algorithmic discrimination and ensure data privacy protections.
California’s legislative session gave the human-in-the-loop concept a significant boost, with an upfront mandate for human input. It’s part of a broad regulatory scheme other states could replicate, as they often do with California labor and privacy laws.
Legislation (SB 947) that Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed Sept. 30 requires that companies assign a human to “corroborate” AI-powered worker termination or discipline decisions using data the technology used or other relevant information. It’s a revised version of the “No Robo Bosses Act” that Newsom vetoed in2025.
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The latest batch of California laws is a good step, but lawmakers need to do more to prevent algorithmic bias, said Christine Webber, a plaintiff-side civil rights attorney and partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers &Toll LLP.
“Employers remain responsible for the decisions they make, even when those decisions are informed by AI,” she said. “Transparency and recognition that employers and their agents are responsible for their decisions, even when made with AI, are essential to ensure that existing laws against discrimination can be enforced in this new context.”
Read State AI Laws Up the Ante for Human Oversight of Job Decisions.