California Seeks to Be First to Regulate Business Use of AI

California lawmakers are seeking to lead on the oversight of artificial intelligence with a sweeping bill that would monitor how employers and industries use automated decision tools, from algorithms that filter out job applicants to programs that detect academic cheating.

Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D) has sponsored legislation (A.B. 331) that is the lone AI-related proposal in the California state legislature and one of the few measure across the nation that would impose assessment requirements on the private sector’s use of such software.

The state’s bill comes as federal action on the topic has been slow to develop. While ...