California moves to ban employers from using emotion-reading AI that collects 'neural data' at work

CurieuxExplorer · x · 2026-09-24

California's legislature approved Assembly Bill 1883 in late August, now awaiting the governor's signature. The bill would ban employers from using AI workplace-surveillance tools that collect 'neural data' — including facial expressions, voice characteristics, and other behavioral signals — to recognize or predict workers' emotional states. Other surveillance tools remain unbarred, with exceptions for federal work and safety tech. Critics note these systems don't truly understand emotions, just process cues as emotional data.

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