SACRAMENTO, the United States, May 21 (Xinhua) -- California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed an executive order directing agencies in the western U.S. state to study and prepare policy responses to the potential impact of AI on workers, businesses and communities.
The order does not itself create enforceable legal rights or benefits but directs state agencies to review possible changes to layoff-warning rules, worker-support programs, job training and data collection, according to the governor's office.
Under the order, state agencies are directed to produce recommendations within 180 days on possible updates to the California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires advance notice for certain mass layoffs and plant closures. Agencies are also directed to evaluate revisions to severance standards, employment insurance, transition support, worker ownership models and job retraining initiatives, the governor's office said.
The order directs the California Employment Development Department (EDD) to launch, within 90 days, a dashboard tracking AI's impact on employment across sectors using unemployment insurance data. It also directs the EDD to include, twice a year through the end of 2027, business feedback on the role of technological adoption in hiring and workforce decisions as part of the California Labor Market Review, according to the governor's official release.
"California has always actively shaped its future," the governor said in a statement issued by his office. He described the moment as requiring a reimagining of "the entire system -- how we work, how we govern, how we prepare people for the future."
The order was signed as technology sector layoffs in the United States accelerated. According to data tracked by the job monitoring platform Layoffs, employers announced layoffs affecting more than 113,000 technology workers across 179 companies in the first 18 weeks of 2026.
One of the largest reported layoff events in that period began the day before Newsom signed the order. Meta Platforms, the U.S. technology company that operates Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, began notifying approximately 8,000 employees of their termination on May 20.
The cuts represent 10 percent of the company's global workforce of 77,986 employees as of March 31, according to Meta's first quarter 2026 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Meta reported Q1 2026 revenue of 56.31 billion U.S. dollars and net income of 26.77 billion dollars, a 33 percent increase in revenue compared to the same quarter in 2025, according to the same filing with the SEC.
The company also raised its 2026 capital expenditure guidance to between 125 billion and 145 billion dollars, up from 72.2 billion dollars in 2025, directed toward AI infrastructure and data centers, the filing said.
Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said companies referenced AI in connection with 54,836 announced layoff plans in 2025, according to its May 7 report. In April 2026, employers cited AI as the reason for 21,490 announced cuts, representing 26 percent of all announced cuts that month.
A February survey by Data for Progress, a progressive research and polling organization, found that 46 percent of 1,228 likely U.S. voters polled Feb. 13-17 believed AI would harm the U.S. economy, up from 37 percent in December 2025. Additionally, 54 percent thought that AI was likely to increase national unemployment.
Labor unions have publicly tied political support to AI worker protections. At a February gathering organized by the California Federation of Labor in Sacramento, union leaders presented Newsom with a document describing AI as "the biggest existential threat facing working Americans today" and said that future endorsements for political campaigns would depend on enforceable worker protections.
California is home to 33 of the world's top 50 private AI companies, according to the governor's office. In March 2026, the White House issued a legislative blueprint urging Congress to adopt a "light touch" approach to AI regulations, according to PBS NewsHour. ■
