California's civil rights watchdog recently pitched changes to proposed rules that would minimize artificial intelligence bias in the workplace, seemingly watering down enforcement options and demonstrating the difficulty of regulating such rapidly evolving technology, experts said.
The Civil Rights Council, part of the California Civil Rights Department, voted Feb. 7 to approve a new draft of proposed rules governing the use of artificial intelligence tools in employment and released it for public comment. The rules interpret the state's Fair Employment and Housing Act, or FEHA.
Two of the key changes the council made to this iteration were seemingly slashing potential liability for the tools' developers and removing a controversial definition of "adverse impact." The changes are a real-time look at the ways regulators are trying to get their heads around the sea change AI stands to pose to the workplace and erect guardrails around a technology that's changing so quickly, experts said.
"I really do think that what we're seeing is kind of an attempt to understand the paradigm in which AI operates. The problem is that this paradigm is just so quickly evolving that nobody can really keep up with it," said Travis Jang-Busby, a partner at management-side Blank Rome LLP.
"I think one of the other issues that you see front and center in California is, How do you regulate AI's use without stifling progress? And I think that's a big one, because California tries to be at the forefront in technology. I mean, we are Silicon Valley," he added.
Here's a look at the suggested changes and what's ahead.
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"Calif. Draft AI Rules Show Struggle To 'Keep Up' With Tech," by Amanda Ottaway was published in Law360 Employment Authority on February 18, 2025.
