State Senator Jerry McNerney from Pleasanton is taking a stance against the robot takeover with the “No Robo Bosses Act,” which he just unveiled. Because really, who wants to take orders from a boss that can’t even make coffee?

Senate Bill 7 is a game-changer that throws a wrench into the machinery of over-reliance on Artificial Intelligence in the workplace. Under this proposed law, California employers will no longer be allowed to use AI as puppets to control hiring, promotions, layoffs, or anything that affects your paycheck. Yes, you read that right. No more letting a soulless algorithm decide if you get the corner office or the boot.

The bill is urging for human oversight in workplace decisions, which seems like a no-brainer. In a world where businesses chase efficiency like it’s the last slice of pizza, we need to draw the line when it comes to workers’ livelihoods. As Senator McNerney pointed out, we can’t have machines making decisions that could unjustly impact our lives and our work environments, who wants to get laid off because a bot generated a spreadsheet that miscalculated your worth?

The bill has garnered support from the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, showing that power to the people isn’t just a catchphrase. Lorena Gonzalez, the federation’s president, put it perfectly: “No worker should have to answer to a robot boss when they are fearful of getting injured on the job, could use a bathroom break, or need to dash out in an emergency”. Amen, sister.

Senator McNerney and the coalition behind this bill want to ban AI from using personal data to predict how you might act at work. How lovely would it be to know that your future isn’t in the hands of a cold machine that has more data about you than your best friend?

With co-authors like Assemblymembers Sade Elhawary and Isaac Bryan on board, this bill is shaping up to be a breath of fresh air. Or rather, a breath of vital, uncompressed oxygen in a workplace that’s been suffocating under the weight of tech tyranny. Now, it’s all about ensuring that our workspaces remain human-centric, and not dictated by AI’s cold, metallic logic. Let’s hope this bill gets all the support it needs, because no one should be out of a job to a glorified calculator.

So, here’s to putting the “human” back in “human resources”. Let the robots do the heavy lifting, but leave decision-making where it belongs – in the hands of real people.