AI’s Power to Replace Workers Faces New Scrutiny, Starting in NY

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is offering a solution to secrecy around AI-fueled layoffs, even as employers’ potential reluctance to admit when the technology causes job cuts poses an obstacle to the policy’s success.

Under a plan Hochul announced this week, New York will be the first state in the nation to use its Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) law to require that employers disclose when mass layoffs are related to their adoption of AI.

Corporate executives and investors are generally bullish on the prospects for artificial intelligence tools to improve profitability and productivity. But knowing the extent to ...