California governor signs first US executive order to protect workers from AI job loss

California's governor signed an executive order directing state agencies to work with researchers, unions, and the AI industry to develop new labor market strategies in response to AI-driven job displacement.

The order proposes subsidies for companies that retain workers instead of replacing them with AI, expanded retraining programs for office workers, and a review of 'universal basic capital' (giving citizens stakes in stocks or funds).

The governor stated that traditional unemployment insurance will not be sufficient and cited predictions that roughly half of all office jobs could disappear within five years, while also calling out a tax system that rewards automation while penalizing workers.