AI Frontier Institute

Employment: technological displacement: notice.

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California Senate Bill 951 (Chapter 860), signed September 30, 2026, amends the California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (Cal/WARN Act) to address layoffs caused by artificial intelligence and automated technology. Under amended Section 1401, employers ordering a mass layoff, relocation, or termination caused 'in whole or in substantial part' by an AI system or other automated technology must include additional information in their 60-day advance notice: (A) the number, classification, occupation, and work location of affected workers; (B) the specific job functions that will be automated; (C) the category or type of AI or automated technology responsible; and (D) a statement reading 'This notice is for a technology displacement' at the top of the notice. The Employment Development Department must publish summaries of these notices on its website and post a quarterly statewide summary of reported technological displacements. New Section 1402.7 requires the Employment Development Department to submit a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2028, analyzing AI's effects on business hiring practices—including impacts on industries and occupations at the state and regional level—and recommending potential notice requirements for 'technological cessation in hiring,' defined as the permanent ending of hiring for a particular occupation caused by AI or automated technology. Section 1402.7 is repealed on January 1, 2029. Section 1400.5 is also amended to add a formal definition of 'artificial intelligence' as an engineered or machine-based system that can infer from inputs how to generate outputs influencing physical or virtual environments.

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