California has always been a place where the future arrives early.
Today, artificial intelligence is being presented as the next great leap forward, a tool that could transform medicine, education, public services and modern work. But as California helps build the future of AI, we must ask: What kind of future are we building for workers, families and American democracy?
Technology is often judged by speed, scale, investment and profit. A democratic society must also judge technology by whether it protects human dignity, expands opportunity and allows ordinary people to participate meaningfully in the economy.
Recent reporting by More Perfect Union has highlighted the human workforce behind AI systems. Workers review data, evaluate responses, correct mistakes and help train models to become accurate and useful. As AI companies move into medicine, law, education and engineering, their need for human expertise is not disappearing. It is becoming more sophisticated.
This cuts through one of the great myths of the AI age: artificial intelligence is not purely machine made. Behind the machine are people.
But the AI labor question should not stop with workers training these systems. It should concern nearly every Californian whose job now involves, or soon may involve, some form of AI. That includes white-collar workers in journalism, law, finance, marketing, software, education, administration, research and design. It also includes gray-collar workers whose jobs combine technical skill, service, judgment and care, including nurses, technicians, case managers, caregivers and public-sector employees.
Many of these workers may not call themselves AI workers. Yet AI is already entering workplaces through scheduling systems, documentation tools, hiring platforms, customer-service automation, performance monitoring, classroom tools, healthcare records and workplace decision-making.
In some cases, these tools can help. AI can reduce repetitive tasks, speed research and allow workers to focus on more meaningful human work. Without safeguards, the same tools can also be used to intensify workloads, reduce staffing, lower wages, deskill professions or justify layoffs.
This is the new frontier of labor rights.
California’s labor framework is built on the belief that economic growth and worker protection can coexist. The state has long recognized that workers deserve fair pay, safe conditions, transparency and protection from retaliation. Those principles should also apply to the digital economy.
California should consider adding a new layer of worker protection for the AI era: disclosure and safeguards when AI is a material reason for layoffs, workforce reductions or major job restructuring.
If an employer replaces workers, reduces positions or significantly changes job duties because AI systems can now perform part of that labor, affected employees should not be left in the dark. Workers deserve to know whether their roles are being eliminated or transformed because of business losses, restructuring, outsourcing, automation or artificial intelligence.
That transparency matters because layoffs are life events. Job loss can affect rent, healthcare, childcare, immigration stability, retirement plans, mental health and faith in the future. Even when workers are not laid off, AI-driven restructuring can change the meaning of work, increase pressure and make people feel replaceable.
California can lead by requiring reasonable safeguards: advance notice, clear disclosure, retraining opportunities, severance or transition compensation, mental health support when needed and priority consideration for new roles created by the same technology.
This would not stop innovation. It would make innovation accountable. A responsible AI economy should not allow companies to quietly reduce human employment, increase workloads or weaken professional standards while shifting all risk onto workers, families and public safety-net programs.
This is also a democracy issue. A democracy is sustained by people who believe they have a voice, a stake and a future. When workers feel economically disposable, socially invisible and politically unheard, trust erodes.
California has begun wrestling with these questions. Assembly Bill 2653, the proposed Sweatshop-Free AI Procurement Act, reflects an important principle: taxpayer money should not reward technology built on exploitation. Public dollars should support public values.
AI may increasingly shape how students learn, how patients receive care, how workers are evaluated, how public benefits are administered and how voters understand political reality. If these systems are built without transparency, worker protections or democratic oversight, they could deepen inequality and weaken public trust. If built responsibly, they can strengthen public services and help communities thrive.
Human beings are not outdated technology. Human beings are the reason technology matters.
If California is going to lead the AI revolution, it should lead with a powerful moral standard: progress must include the people who make it possible and the workers whose lives will be changed by it.
Shikha Bansal is a San Diego-based writer and community advocate.
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