Privacy & Cybersecurity Law Blog

On September 30, 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law California Assembly Bill 1883 (“AB 1883”), which prohibits employers from using certain AI-powered workplace surveillance tools to recognize, predict, or infer employees’ emotional states or to collect  employees’ neural data. The law will take effect on January 1, 2027.

Relevant Definitions

AB 1883 defines “workplace surveillance tool” broadly to include any system, application, instrument, or device that collects or facilitates the collection of employee data, activities, communications, actions, biometrics, or behaviors by means other than direct observation by a person. Examples include video or audio surveillance, continuous incremental time-tracking tools, geolocation, electromagnetic tracking, photoelectronic tracking, and similar technologies.

“Neural data” is defined as information generated by measuring the activity of an employee’s central or peripheral nervous system, where that information is not inferred from non-neural information.

Only workplace surveillance tools that use AI are subject to the law’s requirements. AI is defined as an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.

Exceptions

AB 1883 contains limited exceptions. The law does not prohibit the use of a workplace surveillance tool that uses AI to ensure safety. It also includes a narrower exemption for certain federal compliance contexts, such as the development of aircraft for use in the national airspace or the development of products or services for national security, military, space, or defense purposes, but only where use of the tool is reasonably necessary to comply with a federal statute, federal regulation, or binding federal contract.

Enforcement

The bill will be enforced by the Labor Commissioner and public prosecutors, who will have the authority to investigate alleged violations, issue citations, and bring civil actions. Employers that violate the bill could face civil penalties of up to $500 per violation.