One company offers California employers artificial intelligence that filters potential hires by combing through 10,000 public online sources looking for references to violence or illegal drugs.

Another uses the technology to scan workers’ office emails for signs of dissatisfaction or burnout. Others offer AI analysis of workers’ every online action in the workplace.

As artificial intelligence gives new, powerful tools to employers seeking to streamline hiring and monitor workers, a bill is advancing through the California Legislature to address fears that the technology could unfairly deny workers jobs and promotions or lead to punishment and firings.

The “No Robo Bosses Act” — Senate Bill 7 — seeks to impose human decision-making over certain workplace-automation technology. Introduced by state Sen. Jerry McNerney, a Pleasanton Democrat, it passed the state Senate in a 27-10 vote earlier this month.

“When it comes to people’s lives and their careers, you don’t want these automated decision-making systems to operate without any oversight,” McNerney said.

If passed, SB 7 would bar employers from relying “primarily” on automated decision-making software for promotion, discipline or firing of employees. Any automated decision would need to be reviewed by a person who must investigate and “compile corroborating or supporting information for the decision,” the bill said.

The bill, which heads to the state Assembly’s Labor and Employment Committee on June 25, also would ban employers’ use of products that aim to predict workers’ behavior, beliefs, intentions, personality, psychological or emotional states, or other characteristics.

McNerney’s office in March issued a news release with a link to a list of companies purportedly selling “bossware” workplace-management technology. Some of the businesses offer products that could violate provisions of the bill, particularly a ban on software that infers workers’ mental states. Others, like Bay Area firm Braintrust, sell software that automates hiring processes, which the original version of the bill would have banned.

“With recent dramatic advances in the capabilities of AI systems, the need for regulatory frameworks for accountability and responsible development and deployment have become ever more urgent,” an analysis for the state Senate Judiciary Committee said.

The provision to prohibit fully automated hiring was removed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, with McNerney’s consent, the committee analysis said. The California Chamber of Commerce, leading a coalition opposing the bill, had objected to including hiring, contending only the smallest companies would have been able to comply with that provision. Employers would have to notify job applicants if they use automated decision-making in hiring.

The CalChamber, in a letter representing the coalition, argued that many of the bill’s requirements are “onerous and impractical.” The coalition includes the California Retailers Association, the California Grocers Association, and TechNet, which speaks for Apple, Cisco, Google, HP, Meta, OpenAI, Salesforce, Tesla, Uber and Waymo.

Meanwhile, at the national level, the Republican funding bill seeks to limit state regulations on AI. The House version would impose a 10-year ban on such regulation. The Senate version would withhold federal AI-infrastructure funds from states that regulate the technology over the next decade.